Halo and JLU: A New Fight
by Andrithir
Summary: Master Chief finds himself in an alternate reality, the JLU universe, A New Fight begins. Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo series or Justice League.  Post Halo 3 non-canon story.  Halo 4 is coming out in 2012, there's a debut trailer already
1. Chapter 1

**My first Halo and JL crossover, please review. Anyway, I started on this before reading other Halo and JL crossovers. Once I read them I noticed extreme similarities between them and mine. Main one being, Master Chief gets better armour and Cortana gets an upgrade. So upon seeing this I have decided to take my story in a different direction.**

**XXxxXX** means end of section

Italics are thoughts and names of ships and vehicles.

**By the way, to those who have read this story before, I have simply reformatted and edited it. So there may be some reviews that seem a bit out of place, because those were posted before the patched version.**

**Patched version 0.02 posted on: 6/6/10 Australian time.**

**XXxxXX**

"Wake up Reclaimer," A voice that sounded like 343 Guilty Spark spoke.

The Spartan felt dazed, his vision was hazy.

"Your senses will come back to you soon Reclaimer,"

John's vision cleared, he took in a deep breath. Something was wrong; the air lacked the metallic quality of the suit's air scrubbers. Wait, he wasn't in his suit, his armour was nowhere to be seen. The Chief looked down to see he was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

"Where's my suit?" John groaned as he sat up.

"Upgrading it Chief," it was Cortana's voice, "good to see you awake,"

John got out of the bed; he was in a medical centre, though not UNSC.

"Where are we?" John asked, "Where's Forward unto Dawn?"

"A smouldering wreck on the planet's surface,"

"How'd we get out then?"

"This Monitor got us out and transported us to a settlement on the other side," Cortana replied, "well, before the ship crashed,"

"Why didn't you thaw me out?"

"The cyrotube malfunctioned, I tried thawing you out for days,"

The Spartan rubbed the back of his neck.

"Were's the monitior?"

"Here Reclaimer," the Monitor said "I am 556 Everlasting Entity; my purpose is to maintain this facility,"

"This one's alright Chief," Cortana said, enlarging herself into an average human size. "Everlasting here, saved our lives, he upgraded me to Contender Class AI, and he is outfitting a Dreadnought for us,"

"Really?"

"Yes," Cortana placed her hands on her hips,

"A Dreadnought?"

"Yes, Chief,"

"Thanks," John said to 556.

"You are welcome Reclaimer," the monitored hovered a little higher "if you excuse me; I have some business I must attend to," Everlasting flew off. The Spartan turned to face Cortana.

A few Huragok entered, the oddly shaped yet strangely cute biological supercomputers entered the room, hovering a good metre and a half off the ground, with the Chief's new armour in tow.

"Is that my armour?" John raised an eyebrow

"Yes, you like it?"

"How good is it?"

"I combined your armour with Forerunner combat skins, so now you armour defences are rank 18, it can support me, two layers of shielding, faster recharge, greater resilience and in built energy blades at your wrists, Everlasting suggested I should upgrade your equipment,"

"Nice," the Spartan said in awe.

"But Chief, don't get cocky, this armour doesn't make you invincible, so don't go around taking armoured columns head on,"

The armour had a combined look of the MJOLNIR Mark VI Commando Variant and a Forerunner Combat Skin. The helmet was UA/FC-I[2], and under the armour plate was a muscle suit hydraulic system, which means the hydraulic system was laid out to be like the human muscle system to allow the user greater manageability. The exoskeleton had photo-receptive plates which allowed active Camo-ability. The armour still retained the same colour scheme of the MJONLNIR Mark VI the Chief wore; olive green.

"There is another thing Chief, Everlasting injected bio-nanites into your system,"

"What do they do?" John asked

"Well, it boosts your immune system, helps you heal faster; and halt your aging completely,"

"Good," said the Spartan as he looked at his hands.

"Chief, good to see you awake, and this time, you didn't jump" said a voice. The voice that John thought he'd never hear again. The Spartan turned around and looked at the man that's stood before him; Sgt Major Avery J. Johnson, who was wearing ODST Battle armour combined with a Forerunner Combat skin. The dominant look was the matte black ODST armour.

"I was going to tell you about Johnson and Keyes, but they wanted it to be a surprise," Cortana said with a light tone.

"The Commander is alive?"

Cortana nodded.

**XXxxXX**

Cortana smiled, everything was in their favour when they get back to humanity, they can upgrade all the super soldiers, and the Chief will always remain in his prime. Not that eternal youth bothered the Spartan. His life outside the military no longer existed. The Forerunner AI soon returned.

"Reclaimer, your ship is ready, pleased don your armour and prepare for home,"

"Thank you Tinkerbell," Avery chuckled.

"It was an honour to serve you Reclaimer,"

John nodded, and the Huragoks helped the Spartan into his new armour. Cortana merged back into the armour with him. A rush of mercury, ice and vertigo filled his head,

"Just like old time huh Chief?"

"Yeah, guess so," the Spartan looked at Avery, "I thought Guilty Spark killed you,"

"Tinkerbell the first did, everything around me was crumbling when I told you and the Arbiter to escape, it all went black from there, next thing I know, Lightbulb showed up, and revived me and Keyes, Everlasting brought us back Chief,"

"Where is the Commander anyway?" asked Cortana

"Here," Keyes answered as she walked into the medical bay, "Nice to see you Chief,"

"Likewise ma'am,"

**XXxxXX**

The trio walked towards the massive bay, and there it was, a Forerunner Dreadnought, standing there in all its glory. Everlasting hovered over to them.

"Reclaimer, what would you like to call the ship?"

The Spartan thought for a moment.

"Majestic," he finally answered.

"Nice Chief," said Avery

"Creative, and fitting," added Miranda

"Have a safe journey home; I also must add that your construct here has been forging enough vehicles, weaponry and supplies to field a battalion." Said Everlasting

"Thanks for the hospitality Everlasting," Cortana spoke through the speakers.

"Once again, it was my pleasure,"

Inside the Dreadnought, the Spartan looked around the hangar bay, a squadron of Longswords, Pelican Dropships, Hornets and Sparrow-Hawks fitted for space travel. Cortana merged into the Majestic's systems. The engines hummed, and the ship lifted off.

"Get us home," Keyes ordered

"Aye, aye," Cortana complied

Majestic reached minimal safe distance from the planet, and activated its slipspace drives. A voice sounded over the radio, it belonged to Everlasting.

"Reclaimer do not enter….sl..pace….et…there…some…cry..al…fragmen.."

For whatever warning Everlasting was trying to give them, it was too late, Majestic entered slipspace.

"Crystal?" Cortana pondered

"It could be the crystal Dr Halsey found on Reach, remember?"

"Hmm, that crystal, it has gravity warping technologies, and really messes up slipspace travels."

"I get the feeling that we're not going to end up where we want to,"

"Maybe your luck will show its hand Chief," Avery smiled

A few hours later, the Dreadnought exited slipspace. There was Earth, in all its splendour though something was too pristine and untouched by war.

"Guess your luck came through Chief, we're home." Cortana said, mocking his jibe.

"Call the UNSC, High Com,"

"I've got nothing on the UNSC bands Chief,"

The scanners on _Majestic_ started to analyse Earth, and the locale area. There were no derelict ships or MAC stations.

"Wait a minute," John looked closely at the screen, specifically Africa.

"What is it?"

"You weren't here or 'there', but half of Africa was glassed to stop the Flood," Johnson finished

Cortana examined the pristine continent, the emerald colour of the Amazon rainforest shone through.

"I doubt Earth could have recovered that quickly from the war," Cortana spoke

"Not to mention, there aren't any MAC platforms around," said John

"I'm going to land Majestic onto the moon, and then we can find out where we are exactly,"

Majestic turned around and arrived at the moon, Cortana sent of a couple of Clarion Spy Drones towards Earth. John headed off to the

"Activating cloaking device," Cortana spoke, a couple of Huragok floated by.

"Good, tell me when the drones return, I want to test this armour,"

John went off to the shooting range and practiced for a moment, the armour felt odd, out of place yet also comforting. After his training session, he explored the ship further, the hallways were huge, so he was driving through it all in a warthog. Descending to the lower levels of _Majestic_ the Spartan found that there was an actual garden. With water flowing and beautiful trees that ranged to ones are having gold-yellow leaves, to red, to green. Holographic projectors generated background images, this one currently having blue skies and an ocean. The Spartan parked the warthog and walked over to a gazebo, and enjoyed the view, for the first time in many years he was able to relax. The Spartan lost track of time as serenity filled him. His blissfulness was interrupted by Cortana, the had drones returned. John returned to the bridge.

"What do we have?" John asked

"You're not going to like it Chief," Cortana spoke while analysing the data the drones collected.

"Well?"

"The Earth we are looking at is a twenty first century Earth,"

"We travelled back in time?"

John was having his doubts about Cortana's 'sanity' but in theory, an AI can go through rampancy once.

"No, alternate reality,"

The Spartan tilted his head to the left a bit.

"How can you tell?" John folded his arms.

"For starters," Cortana began "there are metahumans and costumed vigilantes here,"

"I take it this is the part you explain to me what a metahuman is?" Avery asked

A hologram projector turned on. John watched costumed men and women, demonstrated their superhuman or supernatural abilities whilst fighting one another. One man, in particular, he was tall, strongly built, wore an S insignia on his chest, blue jumpsuit and red boots and cape. Another, his suit or armour was matte black, with a cowl and cape that were similar in appearance to a bat.

"That answers your question?"

"Say what?" Avery chocked on his cigar.

"Guys, these images are live, 'superheros' do exist in this universe,"

"Anything else I need to know?"

"All the superheros on this Earth have banded together and formed a group called the Justice League, so they can effectively coordinate help and aid around the world, and counter any super villains' uprising, and help out when disaster strikes, their base of operations is a space station in orbit around Earth called the Watchtower, or Watchtower two."

"What happened to the first one?" Keyes asked

Cortana soon began the tale of the Thanagarian invasion.

XXxxXX

"So what now?" John asked, "We need to find a way to get back to our universe,"

"Well, while we wait, it would be a good idea for you to join in with the populace and see if you can help out," replied Cortana.

"You want me, to become a superhero?" The Spartan breathed.

"Yes, remember what I said Chief?" Avery turned to face the Spartan.

"Folks need heroes Chief," John quoted.

"Exactly,"

"But there are hundreds of superheroes here,"

"Yes, and you can help out with your expertise," said Miranda Keyes

"Fine, how is this going to be done then?" John sighed, he Miranda Keyes outranked him, and orders were orders.

"Starters, you get out of the armour, and I'll prepare an identity for you three, and put you on Eath,"

John frowned, he never liked leaving his armour (unless it was for showers or a hot meal) he felt exposed.

"Oh come on Chief," Cortana said playfully, "you need a tan,"

"Come on Chief, it'll be fun," Johnson joked.

The cloaking system of the Forerunner ship was engaged, _Majestic _headed towards Earth. John sat on the bridge reading biographies on numerous superheros.

A while later the massive ship reached Earth and placed itself in orbit, John and Johnson boarded a Pelican, outfitted by the Forerunner engineers for stealth, and a warthog in tow with a civilian outlook. Keyes decided to come to Earth later in the week.

The Spartan piloted the Pelican dropship towards the outskirts of Las Vegas. Releasing the civilian warthog upon the dirt, the Spartan hauled his gear and placed into the boot. Cortana retaking control of the aircraft piloted it back to _Majestic_. The Spartan wore a blue collared shirt, with the sleeves rolled up just under his elbows, navy pants and black walking shoes. In addition he wore rectangular semi-frameless glasses, similar to the ones Dr Halsey wore, except these had zero lenses. Just like the Doctor, these glasses had inbuilt translation software, and comlink. John looked at himself in the mirror; it had been awhile since he had a haircut. On _Majestic_ he gave himself a quick trim, and slicked back the hair with a small amount of gel. Cortana had told him not to make it to military like. John eased himself into the warthog's driver seat. The doors lowered down and closed automatically. Whilst on _Majestic_ John had made the warthog look similar to a 21st century SUV. So he added a solid hood with sun roof, and extended the cabin so that it would cover the area of where a chain gun should be, and added an extra three seats in the back. The warthog still retained its silver colour, and was equipped with its own private GPS link. With everything in order, the Chief turned on the engine. Avery climbed in to the warthog, wearing a green collared t-shirt, glasses like the Chief, black pants and walking shoes.

"Chief," Cortana's voice sounded through the comlink, "your new identity is John Sev Clover,"

The Spartan smiled noticing the reference of the name.

"Question, how'd you do it Cortana?"

"Simple, hacked my way into the records of this Earth, and created an identity for you,"

"Which is?"

"Your parents were killed in a car accident; your godmother took you in, Dr Catherine Halsey who just recently died, you went to a prestigious boarding school, and studied Business Management and Mathematics at university."

"I struggle with maths,"

"Chief, that's what your test results said when you were eight, your skills in mathematics rival the geniuses here,"

It was true, in the Spartan II program, every Spartan was crammed with knowledge so that they may be able to blend in with civilians if the mission demanded so.

"Anyway, Chief," Cortana continued, "I've set up an accounting firm for you in Washington DC, the hours will be flexible for you,"

"What you got for me Cortana?" Johnson asked,

"You're are a wine maker, your aunty raised you, and your name is Avery J. Johnson,"

Johnson blinked for a moment, "sounds neat," he placed a Sweet William cigar into his mouth.

**XXxxXX**

John arrived at a diner in a lively town walking closely behind him was Johnson. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Got out of the warthog and walked in. He had been on the road for two days now. It was June, and apparently summer holidays for students, so the diner was packed. Young couples, groups of college students and families sat in booths chatting and eating. John did receive a couple of stares, mainly due to the vehicle he just got out from, his strong build, and pale skin. When it came to attractiveness he was well above the average standard. John sat down at a booth and looked at the menu. A waitress about in her mid-thirties came over.

"What would you like hon?"

"I'd like a steak with fries and gravy and a chocolate milkshake please," John said

"Same for me, but instead of a milkshake, I'll have the espresso," Johnson added.

"Of course,"

The waitress headed off to place the order and serve other customers. John looked out the window, leaving and entering patrons often stopped to take a quick glance at the warthog, then continued with their lives. The Spartan pulled out his tacpad from his messenger bag, and continued to read his file about his new identity, and files on other villains and superheroes.

The waitress came back again, and served John his meal. The Spartan chowed down; he remembered that the majority of his nourishments came from MREs and formulas that replenished nutrients to those who were just thawed out of cryostasis. Both tasted horrible, and a warm meal was always considered a treat. Finishing his meal, John stowed away the tacpad, the two payed the cashier and left the diner.

**XXxxXX**

Life couldn't get any better for Bruce Wayne. Research and Development of Wayne Enterprises managed to create a formula that halts aging completely. However Bruce and Lucius kept it under lock and key, they only gave they only gave the formula for themselves, Alfred, the Batclan and numerous Justice League members.

This meant that Bruce could forever watch over Gotham and help maintain the Justice League. Alfred could forever watch over Bruce and Lucius could continue on with his work.

And because of this, Diana AKA Wonder Woman once again, started to push the agenda of dating Batman once more. Bruce knew now there was absolutely no way Diana would yield, sooner or later, she will get him.

**XXxxXX**

John drove through a couple more towns and tourist attractions. He received many looks from people passing by, who stared at the warthog. Johnson had turned on the radio to listen to heavy metal, the ancestors of flip music.

"Chief?"Cortana called over the comlink

"What is it Cortana?"

"I've brought you guys a property on a farm near DC with siphoned funds, it will suit our requirements," the AI said admiring her decision.

"Such as?"

"Pelican landings will go unnoticed and well away from the public eye and winery purposes,"

"Great,"

The link turned off.

It was about noon when John finally arrived at Washington DC. He decided to check out the estate just on the outskirts.

**XXxxXX**

The farm looked nice; there was a creek and a pond on the property. Lovely plants created a beautiful garden around the house. From the acres of grapevines and a couple of large structures on the property, John could tell the estate's a winery.

"Shame we don't have JOTUNs here Chief," said Johnson in his gruff voice.

"They'll look out of place," replied the Spartan.

"I'm sending a Pelican down with a couple of Engineers and construction drones, we'll need to get this place patched up and ready," Cortana spoke through the comlinks, "Commander Keyes will be joining you two,"

**XXxxXX**

A few days later, it was time to go to work. John drove into DC in the warthog. The Chief parked the vehicle at a parking spot, and walked towards the elevator. Reaching the section Cortana had rented out for him under his name, soon he was starting to get clients.

**XXxxXX**

It had been a couple of months since John's arrival. He was getting use to his daily routine, wake up, brush teeth, take a warm shower, have breakfast, go to work, come home, watch TV, have dinner, work about in the Gym take another shower, brush teeth, then go to bed. The Spartan quiet liked civilian life. He now saw why Gray Team liked blending in so much. Johnson's routing was much the same, except he went out into the fields to harvest the grapes and making wine. Keyes often went with John because she worked as a librarian so no one would notice her military background.

**XXxxXX**

It was a Saturday morning, John woke up and performed his morning routine, after breakfast he would work out and maintain physical form. Then watch TV whilst searching for anyway to get back to his reality. Cortana really had outdone herself with the farm. The property was outfitted with UNSC's latest security system, drones that constantly tended to the crops, a huge barn that stored a couple of transports, landing zone and a basement that stored his armour and training course.

"John," the AI called him through the comlink.

"What is it?"

**XXxxXX**

"Chief, there's a hostage situation at a bank in New York,"

"Have the JL responded?" John asked

"Yes, but there is a problem, Metallo, Devil Ray and Livewire are there. Together those two could beat Superman, the bank robbers have also threatened to execute the hostages if anyone comes near, a couple of SWAT fellas have been injured so far,"

Miranda entered the dining room.

"I'm flying you there Chief,"

Johnson followed behind wearing his combat suit.

"Shotgun,"

John looked at the two, nodded and donned his armour.

"Better get a move on guys, those bank robbers are getting testy,"

The three ran to the barn which housed a Pelican Dropship, Keyes buckled herself into the pilot's seat, closed the hatch, activated the cloaking systems and gunned the thrusters. The Pelican lurched and lifted off the ground.

**XXxxXX**

Shayer Hol AKA Hawkgirl hovered above the ground as she carried Superman and Supergirl away from the bank the two had just been blasted by Metallo's Kryptonite beam. The bank robbers, Metallo, Devil Ray and Livewire took point as they started to smash their way out of the police encirclement. The robbers followed closely behind shooting at anyone who dared stop them, and slung on their backs were money bags. Shayera wished Diana aka Wonder Woman was here to help out, but the Amazon was at a UN summit meeting outside the country. Hawkgirl pondered if she should attack the villains, but if she did, she would most likely be torn to ribbons by gunfire, and if she somehow managed to evade all those bullets, then how was she going to take Livewire, Devil Ray and Metallo on? In any case she was in no shape to fight, a three bullets were lodged in her abdomen.

Devil Ray fired into the policemen's lines. Cutting down many officers, Livewire followed suit. Metallo just walked in front of them taking the brunt of the bullets fired from the police. Noticing that their attempts are fruitless, the authorities retreated back up the street. Shayera prepared herself to charge into the horde of oncoming fire, she had to stop them.

A loud crashing sound broke through. Shayera looked down to make sure Superman and Supergirl were safe, then peeked from her cover to see a massive armoured Giant land in the middle of the street.

**XXxxXX**

Keyes and Johnson were circling above the city while the Chief made his epic entry onto the battlefield. A little part of him wished he had done it Helljumper style. John quickly recovered from his fall, and charged Metallo. Metallo hadn't recovered from his initial surprise before the Spartan pounced on him. Ripping out Metallo's Kryptonite heart, the Spartan placed it into a pouch that shielded the effects of its radiation. John turned and levelled his Spartan Laser, charged up the weapon whilst aiming it at Devil.

Miranda's voice crackled through the comlink, "Chief that's a bit overkill,"

"I agree," added Cortana, who was still in _Majestic_

"Ma'ams, overkill is underrated," Avery joined in.

"Say what you will," the Spartan said in his cool demeanour.

A brilliant scarlet beam shot out of the weapon and exploded next to Devil Ray. The explosion didn't kill him, but it would sure keep the guy out for a while.

"This guys is gonna make us lose our loot," said Livewire

Livewire and the bank robbers turned and faced the Spartan. The robbers unleashed a hellish volume of fire and Livewire blasted the Chief with electricity in hopes of frying him. John rolled to one side, and ducked into cover. The ground he stood on a moment ago was now charred black and riddled with bullet holes. John was sure that his shields would have easily taken that amount of damage, but years of training, reflexes and experience always compelled him to dodge. In any case he wanted to keep the shields under wraps to retain the element of surprise.

"You're fast big boy, too bad that won't stop you from frying," smiled and sneered Livewire.

She blasted his cover with electricity, and smiled. When all the dust settled, the sun shone through to show that the Spartan was gone. Livewire did a little victory dance inside. She looked around to make sure the newcomer hadn't escaped her wrath she gave out a light chuckled, the air in front of her shimmered.

John deactivated his cloaking system. His right hand shot out like a bullet and grabbed Livewire's neck. The villainess looked at him with great shock. The Chief quickly hit the back of her head, instantly knocking her out. He dropped the limp body and dived into cover as the bank robbers opened fire.

"Who is this guy?" yelled one of them

"Doesn't matter keep on shooting!"

John unslung his BR55HB SR or Battle Rifle, thumbed the safety and switched it for semi-auto fire. He took aim and fired. Ever since the Human-Covenant war, the Chief had a slight discomfort at shooting at humans, so he decided to do non-lethal take downs, he aimed the weapon at the first person in his sights and fired, the 9.5x40mm KURZ round tore through the man's shoulder. The robber crumbled to his knees clutching at his bloodied wound. The Spartan continued to repeat this process against the other robbers, either aiming for the legs or shoulders. The whole ordeal was over in about 5mins. Soon the police moved back in, followed closely by news teams on the ground. John had no doubt that the news choppers caught it all on tape. He went over to the three injured heroes. Hawkgirl was slumped against a car, clutching her abdomen. Superman and Supergirl were regaining consciousness.

**XXxxXX**

"Thank you," Shayera coughed, "you came just in time,"

"Ma'am, can you please move your arms away from the wound," the newcomer spoke.

Shayera complied, the armoured giant pulled out a canister from a pouch which read _Biofoam_.

"This will sting a lot," he said, "but it will hold you together until you find medical treatment, it doesn't last forever,"

The newcomer inserted the nozzle of the canister into one of her wounds, and sprayed the foam quickly and swiftly in all her wounds. Shayera bit into her bottom lip and grunted, it was painful as hell, it felt like burning ants crawling through the wound, a moment later the pain was gone.

Superman and Supergirl woke up into to see Shayera wince at the pain from the application of Biofoam. The two cousins were about to beat the living daylight out of the armoured person, but they realised they lacked the strength to even get up.

"Okay, your fine for the time being,"

Their discomforts were soon put to rest as they saw the newcomer patch up Hawkgirl. A couple of news teams started to surround the four. They arrived just in time to witness the armoured being perform field medical aid to a Justice League member.

John turned his attention to Superman and Supergirl, after a quick check up, he found no injuries on them.

"Excuse me," said a reporter "what's it like to be a hero?"

The Spartan stood up and faced the cameras. He breathed.

"A soldier should not be commemorated for what is expected of him," John's voice boomed through the speakers.

"Are you in the military?" asked another reporter

"In a manner of speaking, yes, I am Spartan-117, if you excuse me I must leave now."

John activated his cloaking system and disappeared.

**XXxxXX**

John sat at home eating bacon and eggs while watching the morning news.

The new anchor started off with their top story. The news of his appearance spread far and wide within a day.

"Yesterday at 9am, a group of robbers, Livewire, Metallo and Devil Ray robbed a bank in New York. It looked like they were going to be successful as they managed to subdue Hawkgirl, Superman, Supergirl, NYPD and SWAT personnel. However they we're quickly stopped by a new hero who just appeared yesterday."

Images of John fighting the bank robbers and villains appeared on screen, the news caster continued to go on about their top story. Keyes walked to the fridge and made some cereal.

"Looks like you made the front page Chief," She said

Miranda placed a newspaper in front of the Spartan, the headline _Humble Hero_.

"You're starting to make a name for yourself," she continued, "though some people find your methods harsh,"

Keyes walked over and picked up the remote and changed the channel to show some morning talk show. They too were talking about the Spartan. Johnson came in a moment later, sipping on some sparkling he just made.

"Would you like some ma'am, Chief?"

The two shook their heads.

**XXxxXX**

The members of the Justice Leagues assembled in the Watchtower's assembly hall. The founding members sat at the front, and Superman stood at the podium, readying to give a presentation.

"Everyone, could you please settle down so we can get this under way," Clark's voice boomed through the speakers.

Everyone stopped talking and faced the man of steel.

"This Spartan-117, we do not know much about him, so far from what we can tell he is extremely well trained, he manage to subdue that entire force within five minutes," Clark continued

Images and clips of the Spartan firing his weapon showed on the projector.

"Batman has analysed these footages, and from he can tell, Spartan-117 is obviously military or ex-military, his weapons are far more advanced than anything we have seen, since he uses guns, it probably indicates he is willing to use lethal force, however it should be noted that he did not kill any of the bank robbers. He also has superhuman reflexes and speed, and is in possession of medical aid that is far more advanced than we have seen, such as Foam he injected into Hawkgirl to stop her bleeding. His weapons are very advanced, the designs do not match anything we've known and apparently the weapon fire 9.5x40mm KURZ, the serial number of the bullet suggests it was made in the 26th Century."

Superman continued on…

**XXxxXX**

The presentation had finally ended. Batman and Wonder Woman walked along side one another to the cafeteria.

"How about lunch tomorrow Batman?" Diana said sweetly

Bruce gave Diana one of his infamous bat-glares, she was the very few he weren't scared gutless by the glare. The others are Bruce's faithful butler Alfred, Lucius Foxx and Commissioner Gordon.

"One, dating in the team always leads to disaster and two I'm a rich kid with issues, three if my enemies new I had someone special, they wouldn't stop until they've gotten to me, through her,"

Diana smirked and titled her head to the right slightly. Ever since Wayne Enterprises created the "eternal youth" elixir, Batman's second reason for note dating her was nearly rendered null and void.

"One," she said, "Shayera and GL's have patched things up and back together, Question and Huntress, Green Arrow and Black Canary are dating, and so far, they're doing very well. Two, your issues can be easily overcome, and three, I can take care of myself,"

_Damn_ Bruce thought _she got me again, well I'd actually pay good money to see Diana take on Joker_.

"Alright then," Bruce submitted, "let's go to that burger place in metropolis Clark always talks about,"

"Okay then," Diana smiled, once again she defeated the undefeatable Batman, "I'll get Clark and Lois to join us,"

**XXxxXX**

John was driving to pick up the Commander from work when she called him via mobile phone.

"John?" she spoke

"Yes ma'am?"

"I have to work late for about a half hour, could you please get a tub of chocolate fudge ice cream?"

"As you wish ma'am," the Spartan replied

Cortana joined in on the conversation, "what happened to the three litre tub the Chief got you last week?"

"Well a couple of work friends and me went over to Alice's apartment to watch fluffy romance movies marathon and well there was apart..."

John tuned out for a bit, his commanding officer hadn't quite finished with him yet, but that meant he had to endure 20mins of the two ladies chatting about soap operas. _Why can't they watch comedy for a change_, he thought.

"And so Jason left Alicia and we were all crying because…"

The conversation stilled continued, John arrived at the supermarket and purchased a two three litre tubs of chocolate fudge ice cream, French toast, bacon, steak, eggs and gravy. All the while listening to Cortana and Keyes pour their hearts out so to speak.

"I know isn't he a jerk?" Cortana said

"Anyway Chief, when you pick me up, address me as Miranda in public,"

"Yes ma'a- Miranda," John replied

All of Chief Mendez's interrogation techniques could not amount to this excruciating torture, the Spartan thought to himself with a bit of humour. Later John arrived at the Library Miranda worked at. He parallel parked the warthog and walked inside. He looked around for a bit, but soon found the Commander and a staff, whose name tag said Alice arranging some books.

"There you are," John smiled trying to put on a civilian look, "I got the ice creams you wanted, let's go home,"

"Coming John,"

**XXxxXX**

The next day, a Tuesday, Miranda sat in the staff room drinking coffee. Alice came over and sat next to her.

"You didn't tell us you had a boyfriend," she grinned

"He's not my boyfriend,"

"Sure, a handsome, polite guy who is just about every woman's dream comes in to the library, to pick you up, and brought you lots and lots of ice cream, and is very, very polite and friendly to you, is not your,"

"He's not my type," rebutted Miranda

"Whatever," Alice grinned.

**XXxxXX**

The Watchtower, currently in orbit above Europe

J'onn sat in the monitor room look up at the display, thirty active missions; a red dot appeared on the radar. The object was flying above France. J'onn checked the roster to see who was available, Flash and Hawkgirl. J'onn summoned them, to take a look at the unknown entity.

Flash and Hawkgirl flew down to Earth in a Javelin. Flying over Paris, they admired the view below.

"That's weird," Flash said

"What is it?" Shayera asked

"The radar says that there is something there but I don't see anything,"

Speak of the devil; an orange coloured ship with two gigantic circular windows at its front disengaged its cloaking system.

"Oh no, not them again!" Flash yelled, as he took evasive action dodging the ships armaments.

"What the hell is a Gordanian ship doing here!" Shayera shouted, she keyed her communicator and called the Watchtower.

"J'onn!"

"What is it Hawkgirl?"

"There is a Gondanian ship right over Paris,"

Flash could only pilot the Javelin to evade on coming fire for so long, until it was struck at the left engine. The plane lost altitude and crash-landed in woodlands.

**XXxxXX**

Flash coughed and gagged, the smell of ozone surrounded him. Black dots swarmed his vision. His muscles screaming in defiance for every move he made, but nothing was broken as far as he could tell. Flash stumbled over to Shayera. She was just regaining consciousness.

"C'mon Hawkgirl, we gotta go," Wally urged

"Calm down Flash," she grunted as pain shot through her abdomen, her bullet wounds had not yet healed fully.

**XXxxXX**

A few days later, Paris was completely evacuated as Gordanian forces moved into claim the city. John, Miranda and Avery watch the event unfold over the news.

"Now would be a good time to go," Johnson spoke,

For the past few days, the trio had to make an elaborate cover story so that they could deal with the threat in Paris. So far no one was killed, which seemed to be one helluva miracle many were injured though, probably from past experience they bailed from the city. John remembered, that the hour that the Covenant arrived in a human system, blood would be shed. The three UNSCDF personnel geared up, Keyes and Johnson boarded separate Pelican Miranda was going to return to _Majestic _and trade spots with Cortana, Johnson's Pelican had a warthog in tow and John entered a Longsword fighter. The two planes took off and headed for Paris. Miranda's Pelican dropship took off a minute later. The Spartan gunned the thrusters so that he'd arrive at Paris first.

**XXxxXX**

For the Justice League, the counter attack was underway, all the founding members and numerous other leaguers assembled outside of Paris and liaison with several armies from around the world. Batman, being the most brilliant strategist on the planet was given tactical command. He sat in his Batmobile AKA The Tumbler, and prepared the assault.

Once the artillery barrage ended, the assault began. The League's strength were divided into quarters, one quarter to protect the Watchtower, two others were to remain in reserve and the last, the current one, attacking the Gordanians in Paris. Batman had no doubt that this was just an advance element and there'd be more to come. Bruce wondered where the Spartan was, but with the force that was attacking the Gordanians, the fight would be over quickly with the humans being the victors.

"Zvezda, commence attack from the eastern approach. All Airborne units deploy at the CBD, and take the area, we want to weaken the Gordanian formations," Batman ordered "All armoured elements assault the city from the north. Foxtrot, attack from the south. Yankee, mount up, attack from the west and smash through the city and join up with Zvezda, move swiftly guys. 10th and 13th Squadron, support Yankee. 15th Squadron and 16th Squadron, keep any Gordanian airborne and fighters off 10th and 13th."

Batman continued to reel out his orders. So far, the attack went accordingly and the Gordanians were being pushed back.

"Batman, this is Zvezda, we've got Yankee and Kestrel units in support of our attack, we've just linked up with the airborne units at the CBD," a radio operator said with a mild Russian accent.

"Copy that," replied Batman, "maintain your position, we don't want any Gordanians slipping through.

"Batman," said a Commandant with a French accent, "my men have spotted a Gordanian ship, its burning through our positions, Gordanina counter attack is very heavy, we can't hold out for much longer, Beta can't help us, they are under heavy attack as well."

"Okay, I'll rally some men, we'll be there soon," Batman switched to the Justice League com system, "Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawkgirl, follow me, we need to help some pinned downed elements,"

Bruce full throttled the Tumbler's engine and blasted a way through Paris with the vehicles' armaments.

"Batman," Superman spoke "how exactly are we going to take on a Gordanian crusier? I mean there's only one right now but remember last time?"

"Just listen to Hawkgirl," the Dark Knight replied sternly, "she knows how to deal with them,"

Twenty minutes into the fight Superman and Wonder Woman was down after being hit by the Cruiser's weapons. Hawkgirl was busy smashing some Gordanian skulls, Flash taunting the hell out of the winged monsters and GL covering the French forces.

"We can't pull back just yet, we need to get these men away," GL yelled

"We aren't even making a dent in that thing," Flash frowned

The heroes separated to cover a wider area.

The main guns charged up, preparing to obliterate the heroes and soldiers in the vicinity.

**XXxxXX**

The Spartan spotted the Gordanian cruiser charge up its main guns. He wished Cortana was here, he could really use a firing solution, oh well he'll have to rely on luck. He locked onto the main guns and fired, two brilliant white streaks sped towards the cruiser. The Chief tensed as he watched the missiles. He was soon rewarded by a brilliant explosion. The missiles had struck the cannons whilst they were charging up, the result; the weapons exploded taking away the shields and a large chunk of the hull. John breathed, and unleashed another two ASGM-10 missiles at the ship; he pulled the trigger and unleashed hell from his 120mm Ventral Guns. Bullets tore through the hull while the missiles blasted away at the ship's engines. John then turned the fighter around to engage other Gordanian aerial units. The Longsword weaved in and out, the Ventral guns ripping apart fighters and any Gordanians stupid enough to fly.

**XXxxXX**

A brilliant explosion engulfed a large portion of the ship as Batman looked up, he'd just gotten out of the tumbler to pull Superman and Wonder Woman to safety, the two just regained consciousness.

"Hera!" Diana gasped as she saw a massive plane swoop in and fired at the Gordanian crusier. Unable to sustain such damage, the ship plummeted from the sky and crashed into a hill side. Other Gordanian fighters flew to intercept the plane, but they were quickly blown to smithereens by the huge black plane.

"I think I know who that is," smiled Superman

**XXxxXX**

After unleashing the Longswords ordinances, John set the auto pilot to return to _Majestic_, he then picked up his BR55 SR, a couple of grenades, Spartan Laser, Needler and two Energy swords and jumped out of the plane. He pulled his chute and landed with a thud on the road. John unslung his battle rifle and swept the area, satisfied it was clear, he jogged towards Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

"Spartan," Batman acknowledged

"Looks like you came just in time," Superman grinned

"Hello there," Wonder Woman said,

"Nice to meet you guys and good to see you again Superman," John spoke "I have reinforcements inbound soon,"

"Wait, there are more of you?" Superman said surprised

"Just one,"

Seconds later, two Pelican dropships descended, the first one with the warthog landed, detached the vehicle, Johnson hopped out, and the craft returned to _Majestic_. The second one carried a Grizzly Tank. John walked over to it, and touched the consoles to allow Cortana to merge with the armour. Once more, ice, mercury and vertigo filled his head.

"Ahh, home away from home," Cortana remarked

The dropship detached the tank and lifted off. A couple of soldiers looked at the UNSC machines of war with great curiosity and awe.

"Nice to meet you guys," Johnson said in a gruff voice, he turned to face some of the soldiers, "which one you greenhorns wanna use the warthog's guns?"

"As cool as it is, I don't like being that exposed," said a soldier

"Heck," said another named James Winfield "I'll do it,"

Winfield jumped onto the back and manned the weapon. Johnson climbed into the driver seat.

"Anyone wanna ride shotgun? Hmm? No takers eh?" Johnson looked around for a bit, "alright Chief, let's do this,"

John entered the Grizzly tank, closed the hatch and started the engine. The main battle tank rumbled as it rolled over some debris and rubble. Soldiers soon formed up behind him, Johnson drove next to the tank in the warthog. Johnson, John, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and Foxtrot elements rallied together to help out Beta elements.

"Alert, Clarion Spy Drones show two enemy armour 100metres from our position,"

"Copy that Cortana," said John, "Sarge, you get that?"

"Loud and clear Chief," replied Johnson, he relayed the message to the other soldiers.

Superman and Wonder Woman flew overhead; nothing could impede them now, since the Gordanian cruiser was out of action.

"Enemy armour coming into view," Cortana spoke

Batman watched the Grizzly Tank that loomed in front of him, he watched intently as the dual canons opened fire. The projectiles slamming into the two Gordanian Tanks, exploding on impact creating an awesome spectacle. John then bulldozed the husks out of the way and continued.

"Nice Chief," Avery spoke

"Thanks,"

The Grizzly tank was soon joined by Abrams and Leopard tanks; together they blasted through resistances, although they lost some on the way. Johnson and Winfield drove around, weaving through the formation providing covering fire.

A platoon of Gordanians hid inside a building, halting the advance. John aimed the turret and fired two HE rounds into the building. The structure went up in flames and smoked.

"WOOO!" cheered the soldiers, "GET SOME!"

Few more strongpoints popped up, but they were quickly wiped out by White Phosphorous rounds or High Explosives.

**XXxxXX**

After a long hour of fighting, Beta elements were rescued, the group now headed towards the crash Gordanian ship, while other units secured the city.

"Damn, look at that Chief," said Johnson as he saw the burning Eiffel Tower. A couple of fighters flew overhead to drop their payloads, creating columns of smoke and fire in the distance.

The Foxtrot and Beta elements created a perimeter around the crashed ship. A couple of Gordanian soldiers returned fire, only to be cut down by allied sharpshooters. The heroes assembled at a courtyard. John, Johnson, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman paced around waiting for the other heroes.

GL, Hawkgirl and Flash soon arrived. The three noticed the huge tank, and the two heavily armoured men, the taller one wore a helmet, they instant recognised who he was, Spartan-117. The other was shorter, of African descent about the same height as the heroes, and wore a matte black suit of armour without a helmet, and held a cap in his hand, a rifle in the other.

"Sorry were late, we had to help out some soldiers pinned down," Flash grinned "so what now?"

"We assault the ship and find out why the Gordanians are here," John spoke, his deep voice sounding out of the armour's speakers.

"Well this is no place for amateurs, in a tin-man's suit," GL said, "the fact that you two are willing to use guns and machines of war tells me that you are willing to use lethal force makes me very uncomfortable in working with you,"

Cortana was about to give GL the berating of his life, when Johnson beat her to the punch.

"AMATEURS!" Johnson yelled, "first of all, Mr Lightbulb these aren't Tin-suits, second you're going to need our help so watch your mouth Gunny,"

Johnson put on his cape, showing the insignia of SgtMj. GL could see that he was definitely outranked, by Avery. Johnson stepped closer continued to yell at the bald man with a goatee.

"We're are not amateurs and will not be treated as such, have you ever fought in a war that lasted for nearly three decades from start to finish? Where mankind was pushed to the edge of extinction? And some chose to flee instead of stand united? I don't think so, but the Chief and I have. Have you ever had to kill your own men because they were turning against you? We have, so suck it up Gunny and be at peace with the idea you're working with us,"

Johnson finished and walked back and stood next to the Chief.

"My apologies sir," GL saluted

"Wow," Cortana laughed, "Lightbulb, I like that,"

The heroes turned to face the Spartan with astonishment, Flash broke the silence.

"I thought you were a guy Spartan," he said

"I am," John replied

"Then who was that?" asked Wonder Woman

"It's best I reveal myself," said Cortana

John opened his palm. Cortana materialised and jumped off his hand. The heroes watched with great surprise. Cortana then enlarged herself to human size.

What stood before them was a near nude blue "woman" with symbols scrolling across her body.

"Whoa! Where have you been all my life?" Flash grinned

"I'm way out of your League flash," Cortana smiled

"Haha, rejected," chuckled Lantern

Superman was avoiding eye contact, nudity was a privacy thing. Cortana placed her hands on her hips and faced the man of steel.

"What's the matter can't handle a woman?" Cortana joked, "you're such a boy scout Superman, now to answer your question, I am a 'smart' Artificial Intelligence, assigned to the Spartan here, we've been through a lot."

Batman faced Johnson

"How about you?" the Dark Knight asked

"I am Sergeant Major Aver J. Johnson, now let's leave introductions for later and finish this,"

**XXxxXX**

The heroes assembled near the fallen cruiser, Foxtrot and Beta elements had retreated to form a large perimeter.

"Well let's get this done and over with, Chief" Johnson said in his gruff voice.

He threw his Sweet William Cigar on the ground and stamped it out.

"I thought you were called Spartan-117?" asked Superman

"He's called by a couple of names," said Cortana through the helmet speakers.

"Such as?" Wonder Woman queried

"Demon, 117, Master Chief, Chief, Freak, Section Three Freak, Sierra-117, Spartan-117, Spartan and the last one I will not say because of confidentiality,"

"Mind telling us how he got those names?" GL asked

"Everything we'll be explained Lightbulb, now let's do this," said Johnson

John peaked from cover, numerous Gordanians stood guard, the volume of fire would be thick you could walk on it. There was also a Red-Sunlight generator.

"Hmm, we might have a problem," said Cortana, "They have Red-Sunlight generators,"

"I would be useless there," Superman frowned

"You could help elsewhere Superman, they know your weakness," said Batman in his cold and calm demeanour, "we'll call you once we've gotten the generators down,"

Superman nodded and flew off to help other units in the city.

"Aww man," Flash complained, "shame Supes not gonna be with us,"

Batman turned to face Flash

"Flash, you're the fastest person here, knock out a position so we can advance," Batman ordered

"Are you nuts! I'll be torn to ribbons; I can't move fast enough to dodge all that, why don't we just call in Artillery? Soften them up,"

"Artillery is unavailable," Batman growled

"Why don't we wait?"

"They'll counter-attack,"

"Why don't we get some tanks to blast our way in?"

"They have anti-tank emplacements,"

"Airstrike?"

"They have AA guns,"

"How about GL create us a shield to cover us?"

"Some of them have Nth metal," interjected Shayera, "Lantern's ring would be rendered ineffective,"

"Well I'm outta ideas, any ideas Chief?" Flash asked, "Chief?"

He looked around to see the Spartan crouching, and shouldered his Spartan Laser. The weapon charged up forming a forming a scarlet ball formed at the end, a red laser streaked out and blasted a Gordanian position. The Gordanians returned fire, forcing the Chief to duck.

"We'll there goes our element of surprise," Flash said

"I took out their thermal sensors," John remarked

"Why?" asked Hawkgirl

"So I can do this," the Spartan replied

The Leaguers watched as the active camouflage kicked in.

"Hiding like that is a cowards way," frowned Wonder Woman

"This is modern warfare ma'am," said Johnson, "either you adapt or die,"

John sneaked towards the Gordanian positions. There were hundreds of them; weapons at the ready, none of them knew he was near. His motion sensors swarmed with red dots as he moved behind them. The Spartan placed his C12 charges with great care; he armed them, and moved away. He returned to the heroes.

"What did you do?" asked Flash

"Watch," replied the Spartan

"I wanna big boom," said Cortana playfully.

John pressed the detonator. A split second later a thunderous roar flooded the area, followed by smoke and dust. Johnson coughed, the whole Gordanian defensive line went up in flames, however the Red-Sunlight rays were still present.

"Okay move up, Johnson cover me" said John

"Right behind you Chief," said Johnson

**XXxxXX**

The team moved into the huge ship.

"Keep it tight," whispered John

Numerous red blotches appeared on his motion sensors.

"Hostiles inbound,"

"Copy, Chief,"

John motioned his hands to signal everyone to spread out and find cover. The doors parted, to reveal a trio of angry Gordanians. John and Johnson wasted no time and pulled the trigger. A couple of successive bursts from their rifles barked. The Gordanian soldiers stumbled and clutched their bleeding chests their rib cage shattered and their lungs punctured they didn't last long. The winged beings collapsed to the ground.

"Chief I need to access the system," Cortana spoke

John walked over to a console and placed his hand down. He felt Cortana leave him as she entered the ship's system. The heroes just simply watched the Spartan and his never-ending spectacles of surprises. Johnson on the other hand, kept watch. Cortana appeared on a nearby Holo-projector

"I'm in Chief," the AI looked around, "wow this place is sloppy, worse than the Covenant, It took me a few seconds to hack into the Covenant systems on _Ascendant Justice_, here it took me only a fraction of the time,"

"So what do we have Cortana?"

"Red-Sunlight Generators are at the back of the ship on the second level, control room is obviously at the front, and we have numerous units of Gordanian soldiers on the lower levels,"

"Okay, lets split up," said Batman, "GL go with Shayera and secure the lower levels, Spartan with me and Wonder Woman we'll take the control room, Flash and Johnson, destroy the Red-Sunlight generators,"

"You got it," smiled the UNSC Marine as he shouldered his rifle, "C'mon Speedie,"

The team spilt and headed off to complete their objectives.

**XXxxXX**

Flash felt uneasy working with a man who was willing to use lethal force. Johnson in front of him moved swiftly, so far Flash had seen the man wipe out an entire Gordanian squad in less than a second. The two neared a corridor and prepared to open it, when it burst open before Flash could touch the panel. In the door way stood five battle ready Gordanians.

"What the?" Johnson yelled

The surprise attack came to fast for him as he was thrown a few metres back, by a Gordanian, and another shot him. Johnson shouldered his rifle and fired a quick burst into the back. One Gordanian dropped as three rounds punctured his chest. The soldier coughed blood while sprawling on the floor. His comrade who stood behind him wasn't so lucky either, as the three rounds over penetrated the first and slammed into him. Two down with three bullets, Flash then waved his arms creating a gush of air which knocked the remaining three off their feet. The Red Speedster ran over to them and knocked them out. He then looked at the Johnson, who just got back onto his feet. There was a smouldering patch on his chest plate, the Sergeant Major examined his wound, and upon discovering it was just a flesh wound, he bandaged it and moved on.

"Let's move on Speedie," grunted Johnson

"Right behind you,"

**XXxxXX**

Superman flew around Paris, shooting down enemy fighters while helping stranded soldiers, he just wished his teammates would be done in destroying the generator so he could help out.

**XXxxXX**

Shayera and Lantern were wreaking hell around the ship, burning their way through any resistances from the Gordanians. A Gondanian soldier swung at the Thanagarian, she then ducked and slammed her mace into the soldier's abdomen sending him rolling head over heels into a corners.

Lantern formed and wall with his ring, and knocked back a couple of Gordanian soldiers and shielding Shayera from oncoming fire.

Shayera charged into an oncoming horde of Gordanian soldiers, angry at the species that destroyed her people. She swung her mace upwards, and from that, a sickening wet thwack was heard as a Gordanian soldier's jaw was crushed and head snapped back. Shayera turned around and swung her mace low, causing a whole line to trip.

Once the small skirmish was over, Green Lantern used his wring to cut a large whole in the floor so that they could descend to lower levels.

"John we have more inbound!" yelled Shayera

Another squad of Gordanian soldiers appeared, these ones were no the melee troops. They carried rifles. John projected a shield over him and Shayera as they fired; John Stewart hoped that this lot didn't have Nth metal among them. He then quickly expanded the bubble. The squad were knocked on their backs and out of the fight.

"Let's move,"

**XXxxXX**

Miranda stood in the control room of _Majestic_. Cortana had left a "Dumb" AI program to help her out. Oddly enough, the AI's name was T.H.O.M, Temporary Helper of _Majestic_. Miranda called him Thom.

"Thom,"

"How may I be of service Commander?" The AI replied

"Patch me through to the Chief,"

"As you wish,"

The Spartan's voice soon sounded through the speakers.

"Chief?"

"Yes Commander?"

"What's the situation?"

"We've breached the Gordanian's defences, most of the Allied units in Paris are mopping up. Several Leaguers, me and Johnson are attacking their ship; we should have it done by Lunch time,"

"Got it Chief, keep me informed,"

"Yes ma'am,"

**XXxxXX**

The Comlink winked off as the Commander finished. John, Batman and Wonder Woman rounded a corner, so far there were no resistance, but speak of the devil. They reached a four-way corridor, the three doors in front of them blasted opened. Cortana shut the Gordanians out of the system but she couldn't stop them from blowing up the doors.

"Sorry Chief, they broke through,"

"It's okay,"

A lance of Gordanian soldiers opened fire on Wonder Woman, who then deflected the lasers with her bracelets. John was surprised at this, how could she see the lasers so she could block them? They travel as fast as light, one conclusion, judging from Wonder Woman's heritage it was a slight precognitive ability. Stuffing away his thoughts he aimed his rifle and fired. Batman rushed forward to engage the Gordanians in hand to hand combat. He threw a bat-shuriken at the first, struck low and fast in the second's stomach, and swept the third's feet, but there were still more. The Gordanian troops rushed forward, not bothering to use ranged weapons, just melee. John slung his rifle onto his back, and un-holstered his needler gun. He aimed the Covenant weapon and unleashed a barrage of pinkish purple crystalline projectiles at the enemy. Some were struck in the chest, others stomach or neck. The shards then exploded causing more damage to the soldiers.

Batman and Wonder Woman looked in astonishment at the weapon. It was like no other they had seen. They saw the projectiles track and guide themselves into a target then exploded seconds later.

One poor Gordanian soldier was unlucky enough to be embedded with seven needler rounds in his stomach. The Spartan was rewarded by witnessing a pinkish purple explosion, with bits of flesh and bone flying everywhere.

Another squad appeared, and fired upon Wonder Woman, who then blocked all of the attacks. She flew to one side of the massive corridor, the soldiers continuing to shoot at Wonder Woman. Another formation appeared, these soldiers carried heavy weapons. Wonder Woman was caught in the vice. If both sides fired, she'd be in no position to block the attacks. Batman was still busy dealing with another wave, and the Chief hadn't yet reloaded his needler.

"Wonder Woman!" yelled Batman, "Look out!"

He threw a limp Gordanian into another.

John rushed to step between Wonder Woman and the recently appeared Gordanians. They opened fire, Wonder Woman and Batman was half-expecting for the Spartan to be totally annihilated by such firepower, but was surprised to see him engulfed by a golden glow that protected him from enemy fire. John stepped back as the lasers splashed onto his chest and forced him back. These were heavy weapons; they drained his first layer shields, and the second down to a quarter. He could hear the alarm ring in his helmet again. The Spartan had just managed to reload the needler, and levelled the weapon.

Batman, snapped out of his initial surprise, ran forward and threw numerous bat-shuriken into the soldiers. A couple grabbed their throat as the blades pieced their wind pipe. Other's just dropped.

Seeing a couple of Gordanian soldiers drop, it brought the Chief more time. He fired another volley of needler rounds into the aliens. The projectiles shattered and exploded killing the last of them.

"Thanks," said the Spartan

"Anytime," nodded Batman

"What kind of weapon is that?" asked Wonder Woman in a slight tone of disgust seeing the properties of the needler.

"It's known as a needler gun, Covenant design, the projectiles are made to track their targets and can distinguish from an inanimate object to an animate object like live beings or robots. A few seconds later after impact, the shards will explode further injuring the victim, look I know you have a lot of questions but we can answer them later,"

**XXxxXX**

Johnson and Flash located the generator. Johnson planted the charges while Flash covered him, knocking down any Gordanians coming their way.

"Okay, Speedie, charges set let's get out of here," said Johnson.

The two left the room, after reaching minimal safe distance, Johnson detonated the explosives, the entire ship shook and vibrated from the force. They then went to regroup with Shyaera and Green Lantern.

**XXxxXX**

Green Lantern and Hawkgirl fought down another horde, however an explosion caught Green Lantern off guard, knocking the former Marine off his feet. A he landed on the ground unconscious a few metres away from Hawkgirl.

"John!" she yelled

Three surviving Gordanian soldiers surrounded Hawkgirl, but kept their distances. She was on the wrong end of power here. The soldiers aimed their weapons at Shayera. She braced for the end.

**XXxxXX**

John position himself next to the blast doors that opened to the control room. Inside would be very pissed off Gordanian skirmish leaders. The Spartan placed a frame charge on the door. Batman formed up behind him.

"Three, two, one, mark," whispered John

A split second later, the doors were blown inwards. The Chief rushed into the room, which was when his _Spartan time_ kicked in. Everything began to move slowly, Gordanian soldiers barely reacting his shock and awe tactic. He aimed down the sights, and fired, the first winged lizard like thing in front of the Spartan was caught dead on in the forehead. John shifted his aim left, and planted three more rounds into another soldier's chest, the invader's chest exploding with blood and bone. Batman moved in behind the Spartan, shifting to the right. He threw a bat-shuriken a Gordanian, all finding its place in the invader's jugular. The Dark Knight switched to his batarang and threw it at a soldier taking cover. The weapon whipped around in the area and zeroed in on the target, the alien twitched and fell to the floor.

One second, four targets down. Wonder Woman hovered into the room, and admired the Spartan and Batman's skill.

"Cortana," said John, "What do you have for me?"

The AI appeared on a holo-projector.

"Well Chief, the Gordanian home world has been destroyed, because of over population, and now since Earth is the closest suitable planet, they're going to colonise on Earth and use the inhabitants as slaves, these guys are just scout elements, the bulk of their forces will be here in a three more months, at the latest."

"Why would it take them that long?" asked Wonder Woman

"Inferior deep-space travel technology, but they are coming,"

**XXxxXX**

Shayera heard the weapons cocking. She breathed, waiting for burning lasers to cut through her. Three quick loud gunshots cracked, Shayera expected to see three smouldering holes in her body. She looked up to see a Gordanian's head riddled with three bullet holes, seeping out a brainy, bloody mess. Before the others could react, a red streak swooped in slamming them to the ground.

"Hey Hawkgirl, you owe me Lunch,"

Hawkgirl just smiled.

"Ow, my head," groaned GL as he clutched his head, trying to sit up.

"Easy Gunny," said Johnson as he helped Stewart up, "quite a hit you took there,"

"Thanks, sir,"

"Anytime Marine, this the last of them?"

"Yeah, let's go regroup,"

Flash activated his comlink and called Superman.

"Hey Supes?"

"Yes Flash?"

"We've destroyed the generators,"

"I'll see if I can come, but I've just found a number of civilians still trapped, I'm trying to get them out,"

"Okay Supes, I'll see you later,"

**XXxxXX**

After a quick mop-up of the city, Superman returned to the crash site and helped dismantle the Gordanian ship.

"What now?" asked Flash

"We wait," said the Spartan in his deep voice.

"For what?" Superman queried

"For the rest of them to arrive,"

With his last statement, John, Johnson and the two UNSC vehicles disappeared from Paris.

**XXxxXX**

John, Miranda and Johnson returned to their daily routines. John was anxious as hell; he pondered the idea of sallying out into deep space and engage the Gordanian fleet head on with the Dreadnought. _Majestic's _sheer firepower and technological advancements could possibly halt the entire fleet. A slipspace rupture could do the trick, but then again, the chances of _Majestic_ being destroyed when it caused such event was very high.

No, he'd wait alongside with Earth's heroes and make a stand. Putting away his doubts, he hit the shower, turned it on and let the hot water cascade down his body. Such things were luxuries to him.

**XXxxXX**

_**At the Micro Dyson Sphere of Onyx…**_

Kelly sat on a rock, contemplating her life. Around her sat Linda and Fred, her old friends, and the new arrivals, the Spartan III members Ash, Olivia, Mark, Tom and Lucy. They all huddled around the camp fire playing cards. The fastest human to have ever lived (in the Halo Universe) ate some of the supplies from the caches the found lying around in the Micro Dyson Sphere

Kelly opened her roster, and there was the name of the defacto leader of all the Spartans, John-117. She remembered how they part ways when Doctor Halsey took her away to Onyx.

The Spartan II fought around Earth, and finally arriving at Onyx, she wondered how the war was going, in her mind there was a very strong possibility that Earth was glassed and Humanity is effectively extinct. But there was John; he always won in the end.

"Kelly you with us?" Interrupted Linda

"Yeah, I'm fine,"

"We'll see him again," Fred said softly

"How'd you know?" Kelly was quite surprised how they managed to read her like an open book; well then again, no one was wearing a helmet, so her expressions were easy to read.

"Kell," said Linda "it's kinda obvious you two have a special bond,"

That was quite true; Kelly and John had been through quite a bit together.

"I miss him," she sighed

"We all do," said Fred playing around with his combat knife

The Spartan III looked on quizzically, not too sure of what was going on.

"So what was it you're after?" Kelly asked

"Well, you wanna play cards with us?" Fred grinned

Kelly was fully into the card game, most of the time, her attention was on Fred and Linda, the two Spartans had developed a great level of affection for each other. Kelly remembered how she went out to get some water in the night and accidentally stumbled on a sleeping Fred and Linda. Linda had her head resting on Fred's shoulders, while Fred's head was resting on Linda's head.

Dr Halsey sat from afar, still figuring out how to thaw out Team Katanna, so far, nothing was working. She decided to take a break and watch the Spartans.

"They seem to be bonding quite well," said Mendez

"Yes they are,"

"You think he's still out there?"

"I hope so, otherwise we are the last of our kind," sighed Halsey

**XXxxXX**

Another day past, Linda was already out on patrol, Kelly took the time to bathe in the warm waters of a stream nearby. It had been awhile since she had such luxuries; Kelly just relaxed as the currents soothed her aching muscles.

"Guys?" Linda called over the comlink

"What is it?" replied Fred

Kelly quickly put on her body suit, then the armour plates.

"I think I've found something,"

**XXxxXX**

The survivors quickly assembled around Linda, they stood at a n open green meadow by the riverside, Linda had stumbled upon a portal and activated it.

They could see what was on the other side, a beautiful Greek-like seaside, the pristine blue skies, and the soft waves on the white sand. Further away from the beach were Greek buildings on a hillside. Each of them had splendid creamy white pillars decorated with curtains of many colours.

Kelly was the first to step through; she could see some people in the distance. It beats staying in the shield world, so they voted to go through.

"Kell gimmie a hand with this," grunted Linda as she hauled the Forerunner Cryostubes

Mendez was the last to step through. All of them were standing on the sandy white beach, well except for Team Katana who was still in their cryo slumber.

"Where are we sir?" asked Ash

"I wish I knew that," replied Fred

"I have a gut feeling we're not where we want to be," said Mark

"I second that," added Tom

"We have company," said Mark with a tone of urgency, he gripped his sniper rifle.

A number of women on horseback and foot surrounded the survivors of Onyx, and aimed their spears.

"What makes them think they pierce our armour with spears?" said Olivia

"I'm going to go on limb and say that we are not home-sweet-home," Kelly joked

"Aww gee ya think Kell?" said Linda sarcastically

The Spartan IIIs stared at the two Spartan IIs, not quite getting their inside joke.

"Who are you? And why are you here?" asked the leader of the female warriors, she had wavy brunette hair and a slightly revealing set of armour.

Fred was the first to reply, "We are soldiers and scientists looking for a way to get back home,"

"You are from the Patriarch's world; you are not allowed to be here,"

"The what, world?" asked Mendez perplexed.

The warrior stared at these newcomers; they looked absolutely fearsome in their armour.

"The Queen will decide your fate; now surrender your weapons,"

Fred nodded to the Spartans; they threw over their weapons to the female warriors.

"Why are we surrendering?" asked Mark.

"Let's just play along till we find out where we are,"

Fred, Linda and Kelly silently activated their transponders.

**XXxxXX**

The Spartans were led by armed guards through the streets of this lovely Greek city, Halsey would have enjoyed the walk along the paved pathways, but having armed guards, was unnerving. Especially when there were no males, save for the UNSC personnel, in the city and all the females gave them those sneering looks.

Arriving at what appeared to be a palace; Halsey took in the site of the magnificent structure. The sun hit the building at the right angle, giving it the appearance that it was glowing, the white marble pillars in particular.

Moving through the courtyard, the Doctor could tell that this building was not, as some would say, enclosed, but it was open and flowing.

"Where are all the men?" whispered Kelly.

"Beats men" replied Linda.

They soon met the Queen in the main hall of the palace, it dawned on them that wherever they are, the people weren't kind to outsiders, and they preferred to isolate themselves from whatever there is out there.

"It seems that you came here by accident," Queen Hippolyta began, "I sense that you mean no harm, so it is best that you are sent back into the world of men,"

The group noticed how the Queen mentioned "The World of Men,"

Fred was even more surprised at how quickly they were let off the hook, but now is not the time to question the Queen.

**XXxxXX**

Diana, sat in her seat drinking ice mocha with Shayera and Supergirl, the three were talking about the latest gossip going around the Watchtower II. They laughed and joked, and at one point, prodded at each other's love life. Diana teased Shayera about Hawkman, Shayera then countered the statement for Diana's affection for a certain Mr Tall, Dark and Broody. The group's conversation was soon interrupted when Queen Hippolyta contacted Diana. The Amazon Princess then responded to the call.

"What is it?" asked Supergirl

"There are some people from the world of men who mysteriously arrived at Themyscira," Diana replied, "my mother wants me to return them home, it shouldn't be too hard,"

"Can we tag along?" asked Shayera, having nothing better to do.

"Sure," smiled Diana.

They finished off their drinks and went towards the hangar bay.

**XXxxXX**

Fred, and the rest of the group were herded towards a landing pad, there, they were given back their weapons. Fred gladly sheathed his combat knives into the scabbards underneath his upper arm plate. Kelly armed up with her dual SMGs, Linda and Mark with their respective sniper rifles, and the rest of the team with their assault rifles and carbines.

A huge craft landed about five minutes later. Out stepped three women, one looked like a beautiful goddess with raven hair, the other had piecing green eyes, red hair, wings of an angel and carried a mace, and the last had an 'S' insignia on her chest. The three flew… that's right flew over to the Spartans.

"We are sooo not home sweet home," whispered Olivia

"I second that," said Kelly

**XXxxXX**

Wonder Woman stepped out of the Javelin, she saw eight armoured figures stand before her; they reminded her of Spartan-117. The other two were smaller in stature, but something about them gave a feel that they were given a great deal of respect, and next to them were a couple of tubes that contained armour inside it.

"My name is Princess Diana; I am here to take you home,"

The flight back to the Watchtower was very tense for the Leaguers, inside the very same Javelin they were in, were people who had armour similar to that of Spartan-117. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots that they were similar to 117.

**XXxxXX**

Kelly looked outside the windows of the Javelin, there was Earth in all its splendour, though there was a slight problem, there was no UNSC fleet or MAC stations. It was a good thing her helmet hid her emotions.

The craft landed inside the massive hangar bay of the Watchtower, the UNSC personnel stepped off the shuttle and retrieved their gear, a few leaguers stopped and looked at the spectacle within their sights.

"We will try and contact a person that might be able to help you," said Diana, "Please make yourself comfortable in the common room,"

With that statement, she left, and the Spartans sat down.

"Okay ideas on where we are?" asked Linda

"Nothing,"

"Not a clue,"

"Nadda,"

Dr Halsey pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

"We are in an alternate reality," she finally said

With the time they had on their hands, Halsey gave the Spartans a lecture.

**XXxxXX**

"Chief," said Cortana

John was just leaving the office building and headed for his warthog, his pale skin was now of a natural colour.

"Yeah?"

"You're not going to believe this; _Majestic_ has picked up UNSC transponders,"

"What?" John climbed into the Warthog and started the engines.

"To be precises, the transponders belong to Fred, Kelly and Linda,"

"Where are they?" the Chief wanted to see his teammates again, it was all he could think of.

"They are in the Watchtower, currently in orbit above Madagascar,"

"On my way,"

Arriving home, John donned his armour and shot off into space in a Pelican dropship.

**XXxxXX**

"So what are we going to do?" asked Superman

The founding members of the Justice League sat in their private area, discussing about the Spartans.

"We could try and contact 117, and see what he can do," suggested Flash

"Problem is, we don't know where to find him," said Batman coldly

"Well, well, well, looks like the greatest detective can't solve a mystery," said Diana as she gave Bruce playfully in the shoulder.

They all expected Bruce to give Diana one of his feared Bat-glares, but he didn't he faced her for half a second, but gave a small smile and returned to the task at hand.

"Don't worry about finding him Batman, he's coming here,"

The Leaguers looked onto the security feed, J'onn had just cleared the Spartan for landing, and now he was docking inside the hangar.

**XXxxXX**

The founding members met up with the Chief, he told them he'll take care of things.

"Wait," said Flash, "you haven't told us who you guys are yet,"

"That's classified," John replied.

**XXxxXX**

Kelly sat on a chair, the Spartan's still had their helmets on and their visors polarised. She and Linda were playing a game of chess, when she heard a voice she had not heard from for a long time. They heard the tune _Oly Oly Oxen Free_. Only the Spartan IIs and very small numbers of outsiders new what that meant. Kelly stood up and walked over to her old friend John, and reached out to his faceplate, forming a smile with her index and middle finger. John returned the same gesture to Kelly's faceplate. Fred and Linda walked over, and formed a smile on their own visors.

"We're all free," Linda smiled.

The Leaguers watched them from afar. From their familiarity, they were very close.

"So much for emotional outburst," sighed Flash.

John quickly lead the Spartans, Halsey and Mendez to the Pelican. He gunned the engines, and the dropship flew out of the hangar bay, to the other side of the Earth where _Majestic _awaited.

"How'd you get here John?" asked Dr Halsey

"Well Cortana and I drifted derelict after the destruction of the Ark, we were helped by a Forerunner monitor, he gave us a ship and new gear to travel back to Earth,"

"That explains the new armour," commented Linda

The Spartan IIIs looked at the Master Chief, the one that so many have heard legends about.

"So how goes the war effort?" Mendez asked

"Well sir," John replied

"You outrank me now Chief," smiled Mendez

"It doesn't really matter, as I was saying sir, I joined up with Commander Miranda Keyes, and we followed the Prophet of Regret's ship to Delta Halo, where I killed Regret. Afterwards I arrived on the Covenant home world _High Charity_ which was currently under Flood infestation and where the Prophet of Mercy died, at the same time the Brutes started to commit mass genocide on the Elites. The Elites separated from the Covenant, and allied themselves with us. Together we were able to defend Earth, the remaining Covenant forces opened a portal on Earth which lead to the Ark, a large station that's capable of building the Halo rings. The Ark was currently building a replacement for Installation 04 aka Alpha Halo. We were planning to activate it, to destroy the Flood and the Covenant. In the process, Commander Keyes and SgtMj Johnson lost their lives. The Arbiter and me barely made it off the Ark, we used _Forward Unto Dawn_ to escape, but the slipspace portal collapsed, cutting the frigate clean in half. I assumed the Arbiter made it back to Earth. Whereas I and Cortana remained in the derelict ship, until awoken by a Forerunner AI. It helped us, revived SgtMj Johnson and Commander Keyes and that was how we ended up here, apparently disruption from crystal fragments similar to the one we found on Reach, allowed inter-dimensional travel."

"So where are you taking us John?" asked Halsey

"To _Majestic,_"

"_Majestic_?" asked Olivia

Right about then, _Majestic_ de-cloaked, revealing a massive Forerunner ship.

**XXxxXX**

**(The reviews and questions below were posted before I reformatted and edited my story. 6/6/2011)**

_**Minnesota Supremacist  
2011-03-16 . **_

_**I have another question. Why is GL (a USMC veteran) so condemning of lethal force? It doesn't make any sense at all. Freedom Guard made a thin argument that the time in the Green Lantern Corps changes his outlook, but seriously? If any of the guys who served with him heard that, he'd be called a pussy. What's up with that?**_

_**To answer your question, he's more of the abhorrent of lethal force, if I made him seem condemning, I wasn't aiming for that, but I guess that was the outcome. Anyway he's a Green Lantern so its doctrine should have had some effect (because killing is bad for a Green Lantern, unless they're an Alpha Green Lantern I believe); anyway I'll have Johnson talk to him later in the story.**_

**Please review.**

**I have totally forgotten who was in Team Katana, sooo yeah, if you could help me out that would be great, I'm pretty sure though that Eric Nylund didn't go into depths with Team Katana, so I might let them be, and not bother with them.**

**Author's Note:**

**Please review and tell me what you think. I'll post the second chapter soon. Anyway I do apologise about the slight hiccups in the flow of the story. The Batman in this I am portraying will be DC comics Batman and Christian Bale Batman combined. Though I am reluctant to include the Batclan.**

**Optimistic, cheerful at times, I'm not really big on his loner personality so I'm going to tune it down a bit, that's why I went with Christian Bale's Batman.**

**Conray's voice though. Sweet armour and gear, **

**Michael Caine style Alfred and of course the Heath Ledger's Joker (but we won't see this fella for a bit).**

**I know the idea of the Bruce Wayne, Lucius Fox, Alfred Pennyworth, Batclan, and most of JL members aging being halted are unexpected but we all want them to live forever don't we? So that was the most logical way to do it, besides it Wayne Enterprise I'm pretty sure if they devoted more to halt aging they would have, after all its Lucius in RnD. Anyway I'm ranting so I'm gonna stop but you all get the point.**

**Note: The Halo characters, yes their aging have also been halted, but due to Forerunner technology.**

**Author's notes **

**A message to all you readers who have gotten here so far**

**AHHH! Found some mistakes in Chapter 3 right after I posted it, oh well, those mistakes were slight grammatical errors that most people will read over.**

_**Jacob  
2011-03-13 . chapter 2 **_

_**Good update. I like fight scenes, it was good and an excellent way for the League to let Chief join. It has brought a few things in mind**_

_**1. Chief might need a jet pack or something for a flight ability, besides a pelican.**_

_**2. Will there be any pairings in this story? Will Johnson, Miranda, and Cortana get a pairing?**_

_**3. Does Chief's armour have other abilites like armor lock, drop shield, hologram?**_

_**4. Will Chief reveal his origins to a few people?**_

_**5. Do you plan on involving anymore Halo characters like the Spirit of Fire, Spartans on Onyx, Jorge, Nicole, the Arbiter?**_

_**That is all for now, this is a great story just I hope you do something about that immortality thing, anyway I hope you answer some of my questions like the pairing, and update soon.**_

**Well to answer your questions Jacob.**

**Question 1:**** He will get a Jetpack later, I decided to keep the Pelican Dropship in there for the Halo element of the story.**

**Question 2:**** It will be tough on my part to find suitable pairings for Johnson because he already has been paired (if you have read the novel Halo Contact Harvest) with Jilan al-Cygni.**

**For Miranda Keyes, I'm not exactly too sure on who to pair up with her maybe Flash (lmao) or a regular civilian. And Cortana, well she's an AI so no, I'm not going to pair her with someone.**

**Question 3:**** The Chief's armour does have other abilities, for one he will have a holographic projector for presentations, and a few others I will add along the way. But I don't want to make the Chief rely on his armour too much, and be near invincible to the standard being.**

**Question 4:**** Well the current one; is where the Chief and Avery will show the League clips from their cameras during their careers and add commentary.**

**However I'm nowhere near that stage of the story so people, please vote on how you want the Chief to reveal his origins.**

**Question 5:**** I'm going to try and include the Spartans trapped at Onyx, the way I'll have them come to the alternate reality is that they find a portal in the Micro Dyson Sphere and it somehow leads them to Themyscira.**

**Sadly I can't add the Arbiter because there's just too much work to put in having him there.**

**If you have any other suggestions I'm open to it. **

**Please tell me what you think about my ideas before I right it.**

**Now with the immortality thing, I can't stress it enough, it's an elixir that is injected into the subject to halt their ageing; however it doesn't last forever and must constantly be reapplied. It doesn't make them invulnerable or anything it just halts the ageing process. The reason to why I have done this is this story is going to stretch over many years and I want to keep Alfred in the story, (I'll include him later).**

**With Nano-bots, I figured that a civilisation that expanded across the galaxy, found a way to accelerate evolution on species and managed to build things that would practically last forever would have found a way to halt ageing, so there. After all it's 556 Everlasting Entity who resurrected Miranda Keyes and Aver J. Johnson and it would be in his protocols to bring every human he encounters up into top condition.**


	2. The war begins

**A/N: Well let's get this show on the road now that I have finished setting up the background and basis of this story.**

**Recap, Chief, Command Miranda Keyes, Sergeant Major Johnson and Cortana have arrived in the alternate reality, the Justice League's reality. The Spartans trapped at Onyx have also stumbled into the alternate reality. The Gordanian homeworld is destroyed, and now they intend on making Earth their new homeworld.**

**References to the episode **_**Justice League Starcrossed **_**and **_**The Battle of the Maginot Sphere**_** you can read it by following this link .net/s/6780817/1/Battle_of_the_Maginot_Sphere**

**And yes, that story is also written by me.**

**Character reference of the Spartans for those who don't know it:**

**Spartan Is:**

**Sergeant Major Aver Junior Johnson SN: 48789-20114-AJ Seen the Human-Covenant war from the very start to the very end.**

**Spartan IIs:**

**Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 Defacto leader of the Spartans and very lucky**

**Petty Officer Second Class Kelly-087 Fastest Spartan in terms of speed and cognitive abilities**

**Petty Officer Second Class Linda-058 Excellent sniper**

**Lieutenant, Junior Grade Frederic-104 (A/N: I'll be depicting him as in the books not Halo Legends, there is a difference in his appearance) He's a superb melee fighter when it comes to knives.**

**Spartan IIIs:**

**Private Ash-G099 (A/N: There is believed to be a mistake with Ash's rank, he actually has command over the Spartan IIIs)**

**Petty Officer Third Class Olivia-G? (A/N: I have no idea what her number is)**

**Petty Officer Third Class Mark-G? (A/N: Not a clue about his number)**

**Petty Officer Second Class Tom-B292**

**Petty Officer Second Class Lucy-B091 Is a mute from Post-traumatic stress disorder**

**Team Katana (A/N: Does anyone know their names? You know what I'm gonna kill them off.)**

**I have not player Halo Reach yet. So I'm not really going to into any depth with Halo Reach. Anyway If you guys have read **_**Halo First Strike**_**, Master Chief states his discomfort for shooting another Human being without a really, really, really good reason since the start of the Covenant-Human war.**

**I don't know about you guys, but I like Christian Bale's Batman the best, but the growl, they need to limit the growl. If you have read my earlier A/N, I stated that Batman will have Conray's voice, so not the growl.**

**Okay I hope you guys are all happy with the way I brought the Onyx Spartans into the JL universe.**

**This chapter is purely a basis chapter so I can address the current problems you readers are having and I can set the story up for the next part of the plot, and now for the feature presentation.**

**XXxxXX**

The UNSC personnell stepped out of the Pelican and into the massive hangar bay of _Majestic_.

"Hello everyone," said Cortana, she appeared on a nearby holo-projector, "it is of very important that I bring you Spartans up to speed,"

"Cortana," Halsey smiled warmly, "how are you?"

"Very good actually, and I like to say, I have attained meta-stability Doctor,"

"You have suffered from rampancy?"

"Yes, more of depression rampancy rather than a violent one, on another note there are things I want to show you and Commander Keyes will join us later."

Halsey was separated from the rest of the group and went into the lab prepared for her. It was situated in a cavernous room with a living garden and stream. The Doctor found it was peaceful, and went to analyse the information Cortana had collected over the years.

"Mom?" came a voice, a voice of innocence and respect,

"Miranda,"

Halsey got off her chair and hugged her daughter, who also returned it with equal affection.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Miranda shed a tear, an extreme rarity

"I'm happy to be with you again, child,"

The two women sat down on a bench in the garden that surrounded the lab.

"I miss him," Miranda finally said

"I miss your father too,"

Miranda Keyes and Catherine Halsey never heard the full story of Captain Jacob Keyes's demise. All they knew was he died on Alpha Halo.

XXxxXX

All of the Spartans sat in a room close to the armoury, all of them, but John didn't have their armour on, they only wore the matte black body suit beneath them. John sat next to Kelly, and took his helmet off. The reason, in Cortana's term, they were being upgraded in every way, to give them Master Chief's current condition.

"Wanna play Chess four player rules John?" Kelly asked

"Sure,"

Kelly and John sat on one side of the table, while Tom and Lucy sat on the other. Spartan IIs vs Spartan IIIs. Rules of the game, two teams against each other in a game of chess or "double chess," so double the pieces and each player controls their own number of pieces. The game relied heavily on teamwork, miss read your partner's intention and everything could go down the drain.

Linda and Mark on the other hand were playing a game of darts. Fred, Ash and Olivia watched the two marksmen battle it out, with their superb accuracy, the score was dead even.

**(A/N: I'm having them bonding)**

**XXxxXX**

_Three weeks later…_

It had been an eventful day, buying new cloths for the Spartan IIs and IIIs. Both parties had a slight discomfort in leaving their armour, but they had to blend in, and only wearing the armour when there was fighting needing to be done.

John sat in a rocking chair on the patio, overlooking the magnificent Vineyard and garden Johnson had made in his spare time. The Chief thought back to his beginnings, how he met Dr Halsey, his initiation into the Spartan II program, the Human-Covenant war, the Flood, and the painful end of it all; humanity's hollow victory.

"What's the matter John?" said Kelly as she lay down on the bench nearby.

John sighed, "I'm too sure Kell; we've been fighting for over thirty years,"

"We have that feeling too," she smiled, "to you, what was the end of the war like?"

"Scary, terrifying and hollow," replied John

"What do you mean?"

"We've," John paused, "I have seen so much, and lost so much in the war,"

This was by far John had to an emotional outburst; the second was him finding Cortana in tatters.

"You've still got us," said Fred, as he and Linda found a seat on the patio.

"You actually won the war for us," said Linda

In the distance, the Spartan III were sparring each other.

"With the help from many friends, especially from Johnson and the Arbiter,"

"Well this is getting mushy," chuckled Kelly, she walked up and gave John a playful punch. "Let's go play soccer with the three's,"

Kick off, Spartan IIs vs Spartan IIIs. Mendez and Johnson were sitting under the shade of a table umbrella, drinking sparkling and smoking Sweet William Cigars watching the game. So far the game was a tie, due to the Spartan IIIs teamwork and Spartan IIs specialised abilities clashing against each other. The stalemate was soon broken when Kelly sprinted full speed ahead, and John gave an almighty kick to pass her the ball. Kelly then weaved passed Lucy and shot the ball through the goal past Tom.

"Whew," puffed Olivia, "that was hectic,"

Lucy just nodded and nudged Olivia's arm.

Game two, the teams were mixed up. One side having John, Fred, Lucy, and Olivia, the other team having Kelly, Linda, Mark, Ash and Tom, the match began. Once again, a stalemate until Linda and Mark's superb passing accuracy and Kelly's speed that got them their first goal. Linda gave Kelly a high-five. Blending in with civilians had allowed them to absorb the finer and subtle points of human culture.

Once again Kelly's team had scored another goal, score 2:0. Linda and Kelly smiled inwardly knowing how cut the Chief could get after losing, John wasn't a sore loser; he just didn't take loss very well.

Kelly looked at John; there was a hint of annoyance of losing on his face. Either he didn't mind whoever won the game (which was highly unlikely) or he had something up his sleeve. Kelly ran with ball down the field, then something unexpected happened, John appeared out of nowhere and slide tackled her. He kicked the ball out of her possession, which Fred then picked up and took the ball back the other way. Kelly tripped over John's legs, landing right on top of him. The two didn't notice their current predicament as they watched Fred out manoeuvre Linda, weave past Tom, and kicked the ball through Ash's defences and into the goals, score 2:1.

Kelly looked down to see John right under her, she blushed a little. Ash trotted over to the two.

"Are you alright, sir and ma'am?" asked Ash as he _helped_ his superior officers up

"We're fine," said Kelly, "thanks for your…"

"…concern," John finished

Linda and Fred looked at the two for a quick moment for that odd display of in sync speech.

The day ended with a meal cooked by Miranda and John, where they all gorged on the delicious homemade food. To tie it off nicely they all decided to hangout outside in the garden. Halsey and Keyes sat on the bench catching up. Johnson and Mendez sat in the rocking chairs drinking beer and smoking Sweet William Cigars. And the Spartans lay on the grass looking up at the summer night sky. Linda and Fred were talking about a comedy TV show they saw the night before. Lucy was asleep, curled up next to Tom, who was holding her in his arms. Olivia, Mark and Ash were having a discussion about thriller novels, and Kelly and John were looking up at the sky. The two remembered how they'd sneak out of the barracks every now and then just to stargaze and talk.

"Remember what you said to me all those years ago?" Kelly folded her arms behind her head

"Yes," replied John, "I asked you if you wondered what was out there,"

"And that whoever was out there we'd hope to meet them," finished Kelly.

Mendez watched the Spartans, he remember how he would deliberately make their stargazing sessions go unnoticed. For whatever reason the UNSC wished to turn them into, Mendez wanted them to have that ounce of humanity in them. That curiosity of knowing what is out there, compassion, and respect. The Spartan trainer was glad to see them happy, truly happy. Something he greatly doubted they had for the past thirty years.

Bed time came; Mendez noticed the closeness between John and Kelly, Linda and Fred, and Lucy and Tom. He noticed how John and Kelly would go on jogs together, stargaze and engage in deep conversations with one another.

Linda and Fred watching and talking about TV shows and movies with each other, and if they weren't doing that, they would be sparring. The dead giveaway about Tom and Lucy's closeness was the way how Tom spoke softly to her, and just this night, carried her to bed, tucked her in and went to his own bedroom. Normally Mendez would have berated them for this, but the war was over now, they deserved every ounce of happiness, and another small reason; John and Fred were superior officers.

**XXxxXX**

Bruce and Diana had been together for some time now. Their relationship blossoming, however they had to date in their secret identities lest they wanted the media to get involved. This was tough on both parts. Bruce's cover personality being a billionaire playboy tended to attract a lot of paparazzi and Diana's sheer beauty would've attracted much unwanted attention. The two walked around a lake to avoid the general population on a Saturday afternoon. Bruce, being Bruce was paranoid enough to go in disguise, however Alfred managed to talk the Dark Knight in tuning down the disguise to glasses and close cropped hair.

"What's bothering you Bruce?" Diana asked

"Well it's the Spartan, he is trained and disciplined, but who is he and where is he from, he said he is in the Military but so far no records indicate his existence, then about a month ago his buddies turn up on Themysicra, he turns up out of nowhere and takes them away,"

"Still trying to find out who he is?"

Bruce nodded and held Diana's hand.

"You're to paranoid dear," Diana gave Bruce a quick kiss

"It's what kept me alive for so long,"

"And miserable," interjected Diana, "until you went out with me,"

She gave him a warm smile.

"That's because I trust and love you,"

"You're getting soft Bruce, but I love you too,"

"I just want to know if this guy is a threat,"

"Bruce, a few weeks back he saved our lives,"

"But he used lethal force,"

"He's in the military, Bruce, if he wanted to kill us, he would have already done it, we'll find out everything about them soon enough,"

**XXxxXX**

The UNSC combatants and the founding members of the league sat in a bunker discussing their next move in order to prepare for the imminent Gordanian invasion; they were at most a month away from Earth. Johnson pulled Stewart aside, when they first met, Stewart's reaction to lethal force was quite hostile despite his Marine background. Avery felt compelled to get to the bottom of this.

"Gunny, can I ask you something?" said Johnson

"Not at all sir," replied GL

"Why are you so… uncomfortable with lethal force?" Johnson prodded

"I'm a Green Lantern, we don't kill,"

Johnson just looked at Stewart,

"You used to be a Marine. Gunny, what happened?"

"Well when I joined the corps, I was at peace with the idea of killing,"

"And?"

"As corny or cliché as this sounds, the platoon I was with, we were on patrol on a highway, I can't seem to remember what country we were in,"

Johnson listened as Stewart was going to pour out his hidden secret.

"So the rebellion had been quelled in the area, or so we thought. We were joking about things back home, when the point guy triggered an IED, he went up instantly, and all that was left of him was his helmet and rifle. A second later…"

Stewart clasped his head, it was hell for him to revisit such a time.

"Gunfire rang out and cut half of us down, we fought back and the rebels took a couple of us as prisoners, I and the remaining men were ordered to go save them. We assaulted a village, where the rebels were holed up in there giving us a hard time, and there was this sniper in an apartment block, I threw a frag into his window and continued on…"

Stewart kept reeling on his story,

"So when we mopped up, I went into the apartment block where the sniper was at, I found him maimed by my frag, and a small bloodied family lying around the room, torn to shreds,"

Stewart's voice sounded hoarse

"I killed the family, no doubts there, my superiors just called it collateral, I walked free, after that I saw killing in a different light, and resigned from the Marines, then ended up with the Green Lantern Coprs,"

_That was pretty cliché _thought Johnson _and very tragic,_ he remembered when he served with UNSC NavSpec War before the war against the Covenant, his hesitance in OPERATION: TREBUCHET caused the death of several comrades and civilians; he remembered when he fired that round into an innocent truckie who picked up the wrong load at the wrong time. Hid body turned to bloodied ribbons as the railgun's round ripped through him.

"Tragic events change all of us," said Johnson quietly, remembering his encounter with the flood, he reached in his pocket in search of a Sweet William Cigar, "I just need to know, when the time comes can we count on you Gunny?"

Stewart nodded, "Only as a last resort, sir,"

"Good man," Johnson said, he found the cigar and placed in his mouth.

"Where are you guys from?" asked Stewart

"All your questions will be answered in due time Lightbulb," Johnson lighted the cigar and started puffing.

The meeting ended an hour before noon, which gave everyone plenty of time to have some R 'n' R for the rest of the day.

**XXxxXX**

Around noon, John and Kelly in their civilian persona drove into town to get something to eat and buy groceries. "You know John, glasses makes you look kinda cute," smirked Kelly, "but you'll never catch me dead wearing one,"

"Aww gee, that's too bad, you'll hurt Cortana's feelings," mocked John as he retrieved some glasses for Kelly, "you need to where these so we can stay in contact,"

Kelly just grinned and showed him her ear… specialised earrings for female ONI field operatives. The two soon arrived at a café; they received some stares because of their build and the warthog. Kelly, noticed the attention.

"We got some slight unwanted attention John," Kelly whispered

"Don't worry; they'll just carry on with their own lives soon. You should have been here when we didn't have a tan,"

The two sat down at a table near the window and ordered their meals. A couple of other patrons sent a few glances towards the tall, atheletic, pretty attractive brunette _couple_. Their meals arrived, John and Kelly decided to talk about their childhood memories and remembering to not mention the Spartan program, but instead back references.

"Sorry to interrupt guys," Cortana called, "but it's time for that meeting,"

"Time to go,"

The two got up, paid for their meals and returned to the farm.

**XXxxXX**

_**The next day…**_

A great number of Justice League members and the Spartans massed together to talk about the impending Gordanian invasion at the UN building, they've gotten their story and plan together at their earlier meeting, so now it was time to present it to the world leaders. Spartan-117 stood at the podium addressing the crowd.

"Cortana has analysed the data, Hawkgril has given to us about the Gordanians," The Chief started, "their defensive line has now set course for Earth,"

"Wait, I thought Earth was behind their defensive line," said Wally, "I remember seeing it on the offensive strategy of the Thanagarians when they built the hyperspace bypass,"

"No that was just a model, the radius of their defensive sphere is only in the thousands, not millions," Batman corrected the Speedster, "Earth is outside their defensive sphere,"

"I am assuming that the Gordanians would have learnt of the Thanagarian's failure of the invasion of Earth," Spartan-117 said

His words stang Shayrea a little, remember of the Thanagarian's attempt to finish of their hyperspace bypass, and their failure costed the Thanagarian homeworld. Now numerous Thanagarian fleets were rallying together to form effective resistances on other planets, Shayera hoped that the Thanagarian's resistances across the cosmos would draw away some of the heat directed at Earth. If Earth succeeded, the playing field would be somewhat levelled, as in all probability, the High Gordanian command would accompany the invading force to Earth since their homeworld was destroyed.

"If they do know that, then they will be attacking the Watchtower, and attempt to wipe out cities with a high population, hopefully they do not know of Earth's defences so we can surprise them with our nukes," Master Chief continued

A three star General stood up from the crowd, "Excuse me soldier,"

A couple of camera's flashed, there were a great number of reporters around, all wanting to get the latest scoop.

John saluted, the General returned the gesture, "Granted you did help us out in Paris, but we'd like to know more about you before we devote our resources to your plan," he said in a tone so… reductive towards the Chief.

John, and the other Spartans gritted their teeth, this General reminded them of Colonel James Ackerson, the heartless bastard who started the Spartan-III program, and wanted to get the Spartan-II program wiped out. _He may be a superior officer, but hell he ain't in my chain of command_ thought John.

"What would you like to know sir?" John asked

"Where are you from?" the General asked

Miranda was sitting somewhere in the audience in disguise, she whispered through the comlink.

"Don't tell him, make up some excuse,"

John acknowledged.

"I'm sorry sir, but that information is classified. My superiors will not allow me to share some information currently,"

The world leaders argued in an uproar, until Superman intervened.

"Everyone please settle down, let's focus on the task at hand, Spartan please continue,"

"Thank you Superman,"

The crowd settled down.

"It would be wise to ready your nuclear weapons and deploy your forces…"

John continued to reel on the strategy formulated by him, Fred, Wonder Woman and Batman. After much debate, the world leaders grudgingly accepted the plan. Of course, John neglected to tell them of the orbiting Forerunner Dreadnought and its many fighters deployed; only the UNSC members knew about that.

With everything underway, DEFCON 1 was initialised.

**XXxxXX**

John had requested that some nuclear weapons would be placed about halfway between Earth and the Moon, and Cortana place some Clarion Spy Drones in deep space. Tension hung in the air; he could see it all on the Legauers' faces. They all stood outside Fort Teller in America, Team Katana stood to his left, keeping amongst themselves. Kelly checked her tacpad, Justice League teams, and allied forces were deployed all over the globe.

Miranda, Halsey and Mendez remained in _Majestic_, the Gordanian had just reached the outer perimeter.

"So it begins," said John

Miranda spoke over the comlink system, "Detonating nukes in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Mark!"

The night sky erupted into small brilliant flashes, small dots of explosions.

"Cortana, casualty report," John ordered through the comlink

"We have about a few thousand derelict vessels Chief, there are still more on the way,"

The Legauers didn't hear that exchange, so far the UNSC soldiers have voted to keep their technology on a down low. According to what they have read about this Earth. Some inhabitants are quiet power hungry and paranoid. John will reveal _Majestic_ to them when the time arrives, Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller are good examples.

**XXxxXX**

Miranda stood on the control bridge of _Majestic_, hundreds of thousands of Gordanian cruisers had appeared. Mendez kept watch on the battlefield ops, and Halsey sat in a chair watching the battle unfold, she watched her daughter issue orders to one of humanity's greatest creations.

"Detonating nukes, Commander," said Cortana

Tens of nuclear weapons detonated, filing the darkness with small pockets of light. Hundreds of Gordanian ships were engulfed in the fire balls, totally annihilated or burning away. Others were caught in the EMP blast, now drifting derelict.

Halsey and Miranda had read Cortana's files on the Battle of the Maginot Sphere, the current battle unfolding is quite similar.

Miranda opened up the tactical map, it showed Earth in the centre, and the Gordanians were landing all their forces on Earth, they had not expected such resistance in space, most of their ships were carriers. Good, they will be moped up by _Majestic_. Keyes just hoped that the Forerunner Dreadnought could last against such an overwhelming force. Fighters were deployed and the war went in full swing.

**XXxxXX**

"Chief," Cortana's voice sounded over the com, "Gordanians have broken through, all ground forces are holding, though Metropolis needs your help, you guys do what you do best,"

"Time to move out," John ordered as he climbed into the Pelican, Mark, Olivia, Tom, Lucy, Kelly and Linda followed him. Ash and Fred climbed into different Longsword fighters and Team Katana took off in a Hornet. The small task force took off with the Justice League in tow.

Soon they arrived at Metropolis, a couple of chunks were missing from sky scrapers and smoke columns dominated the noon cityscape. US soldiers, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Black Canary and Huntress fought bellow.

"Superman, with me," said Batman, "we'll provide air support, call Supergirl to help us,"

"We'll come with you," said Fred, "Ash, you're my wingman, stay close,"

"Yes sir,"

Diana watched as the aircrafts split up. The Pelican dropship hovered in the air, in the distance floated a Gordanian carrier; it had little armaments so it was fiercely defended by Gordanian Airborne units. Time to fight their way to it.

John and Kelly looked down below, the sight was pretty bad, but it was Insurrectionist bad, not Covenant bad, there is a difference. To them this looked like a terrorist attack, the Covenant made the Gordanians look like a real pushover.

The hornet touched down on an apartment complex, there were still a number of civilians to be evacuated, and the army still had their hands full, so the Spartans had to help out.

"Let's do this Chief," said Johnson as he finished off his cigar. The Master Chief spread a map out on a car bonnet and prepared to split them up into teams.

"I'll go help out Cupid and the Marines," said Johnson indicating Green Arrow, the veteran Sergeant Major sealed on his helmet and jogged over to the green archer.

John nodded, "Team Katana, take your medium fusion bomb and destroy that carrier, will be able to break the Gordanian's hold of Metropolis,"

Katana's acknowledgement lights winked on. The Spartan-IIIs went on their way. John turned to Linda, Olivia and Mark, "I want you three to move here, to the Daily Planet building, clear it out and provide sniper support so we can advance to the city centre,"

Their lights winked green on the Chief's HUD. The three moved out.

"Okay, Tom, Lucy and Kelly with me, let's see if we can knock out their firebase there," John said pointing the location out on the map."

John keyed his comlink, "Fred?"

"Yes, John?"

"Cover Team Katana, I've sent them to knock out that cruiser,"

"Got it John,"

**XXxxXX**

Fred and Ash swooped low over the cityscape, Batman, Superman, Flash and Supergirl had gone off to rescue a bunch of civilians. GL and Hawkgirl were helping a couple of stranded Marine elements, Wonder Woman and J'onn we flying around making sure they'd have arieal superiority in the area.

"Okay Katana you are clear to move, enemy armour down,"

"Copy sir, Kay3 and Kay4 with me,"

The Longswords flew in the through the streets strafing Gordanian positions and clearing the way for Katana. They're about a few kilometres away from the Gordanian crusier.

"We have inbound fighters sir," said Ash

"Got it, let's take on these suckers," Fred now switched his comlink to contact Katana, "Katana, we have to deal with some aerial units here; we won't be available for some time,"

"Roger that,"

Fred and Ash turned around to face the horde of fighters and airborne soldiers, flapping their wings and firing their guns. Good thing the engineers installed energy shields all the fighters would have been torn to ribbons by now.

"Watch one on the right sit,"

"Thanks Ash,"

Fred veered his fighter right and raked up the Gordanian fighter with his ventral guns. The enemy aircraft was riddled with bullets before exploding into a yellow ball. Ash flanked the formation from the right and fired a missile into the horde. It struck with devastating effect, hitting one Gordanian fighter and showering others in spark and debris. With the panic caused, Ash unleashed a volley from his ventral guns ripping up numerous fighters and airborne soldiers.

"You got one on your tail Ash,"

Ash bank and swerved his fighter to dodge the Gordanians. Fred lined up his fighter, and fired. The Gordanian aircraft exploded.

"Your tail is dusted," said Fred

"Thanks sir," said Ash, he then keyed his comlink and spoke to Katana, "Okay Katana, we're back you guys missed us?"

"We have a problem, Kay2 is down and we are surrounded,"

Sporadic fire could be heard in the background followed by heaving shelling. John now joined in on the conversation, "Fred get them out of there," he ordered

"Got it John," Fred then keyed his comlink to contact Wonder Woman, "Wonder Woman?"

"Yes?"

"This is Spartan-104 we need help in extracting one of our teams pinned down in enemy territory,"

"We're right behind you,"

Fred looked at his rear camera to see Wonder Woman and J'onn form up behind him, though they were about a few hundred metres behind.

"Katana what's your situation?" Fred asked on an open channel

"This is Kay3, I'm the last one left, they have tanks," his voiced sounded scared but calm, "my jetpacks been destroyed, I can't get to the ship, I'm going arming the bomb, thirty second count down,"

Diana could hear the sporadic fighting from her comlink, It was on an open channel for the founding members and Spartans to hear.

"NO WAIT WE CAN SAVE…" Fred yelled over the comlink, but he was cut short as a second sun appeared. The fireball engulfed a large area of Gordanian ground. Fred and Ash quickly turned their Longswords around, trying to escape the impending shock wave. Fred could see it on the rear camera, the massive carrier unable to hold against such force snapped in half and careened into the Earth. The air started to ripple, caring dust and debris with it, the shock wave was spreading. The two Spartans engaged afterburners, Wonder Woman and J'onn were well ahead of them, the shockwave will not catch them, but definitely Fred and Ash.

Fred lurched forward as the shockwave picked up his fighter, Fred looked out the window and saw Ash's fighter spinning uncontrollably. He heard an ear splitting screech as his fighter hit the pavement, tearing off a section of the wings and ploughing into the road. Before darkness consumed the Spartan, he heard John's voice over the open channel.

"Everyone, Team Katana is MIA; I repeat we have a team MIA,"

Fred allowed himself a small smile, Spartans never die.

**XXxxXX**

Batman flew in his batplane, did he hear right? Bruce knew Katana died when that bomb went off, they made a great sacrifice but at least the Gordanian authority in Metropolis was severely reduced.

He wondered why Spartan-117 pronounced them as missing in action when they clearly died. Well when the war was over, he hoped he would find out.

**XXxxXX**

John gritted his teeth, the battle was not going too well in his part, Team Katana was ambushed and detonated their bomb, bringing don eight blocks of the Metropolis CBD, and thousands of Gordanian troops, and Fred and Ash were out of the fight for the time being. Even though the enemy had just suffered heavy loss, they were nowhere near beaten. From the satellite image the Gordanian high command were holed up in the Town Hall which was surrounded by what use to be parks.

**XXxxXX**

Linda was slightly shaken when the bomb went off, it reminded her too much of Sam's death, she was pretty sure John, Kelly and Fred felt the same, the sharpshooter just hoped Fred was alright, he was caught in the blast and she knew it. However now is not the time to sulk, she had to help John and his team assaulting the Gordanian ground base.

Olivia stood guard, even though they thoroughly cleared the Daily Planet building, it never hurts to be safe. Mark and Linda lay prone on the 50th floor, with their sniper rifles.

"Two coming out," she whispered, "take the three out on the right; I'll take out the other three on the left,"

"Yes ma'am,"

"Three, two, one, mark,"

Six rounds tore through the air, striking their targets down, the Gordanian soldiers' heads exploded into a fountain of gore and bone. The six headless bodies fell lifelessly onto the ground. The time between the first bullet fired and the last was one second.

"Beautiful," Linda remarked

"Thanks guys," said John over the comlink.

He and his strike team soon came into view as they moved towards the ground base.

**XXxxXX**

John sent his silent thanks to Linda and Mark, Wonder Woman had just called to tell him that she was pulling Fred and Ash out of their burning planes. John now called Stewart and J'onn.

"You guys busy?"

"We're finishing up Chief," replied Stewart

"I have my hands full at the moment Spartan," said J'onn

Lantern flew to the Chiefs position. He slightly recoiled when he saw the six headless, smouldering corpses. Stuffing away his discomfort Stewart reminded _Well at least they're not human_.

"What do you need help with sir?"

"I know what you're thinking, and it's crazy, but not as crazy as the Covenant bomb stunt," whispered Cortana through the comlink

John inwardly smiled, even though Cortana had to coordinate most of the Space assets, she still dedicated some of her processing power to him, now that was commitment.

"See that base Gunny? We're going to knock on its doors,"

The Spartan examined his tacpad, Johnson, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Huntress had just finished mopping up in the port area, now they were returning to meet up with John. Looking at the battlefield, he decided against calling in a tank, the terrain surrounding the Town Hall was a mess.

"Johnson," the Spartan keyed into his comlink

"Yes Chief?"

"Get your forces and support us from the east,"

"Copy that Chief,"

A couple of US Army Rangers and regulars formed up behind the Spartans, Johnson had prepared his group to attack the base from the east, while John and the rest of the Spartans assault it from the south.

"Kelly, see if you can get Cortana to send us some help,"

"I'm on it,"

**XXxxXX**

Miranda stood on deck, she watched as tens of UNSC Longswords piloted by "Dumb" AIs whipped up by Cortana tear through the Gordanian formations. _Majestic_ had not yet opened fire, it remain in orbit still cloaked.

"Commander?" it was Kelly

"What is it?" said Miranda as she spoke into the mic.

"Um, we could use some air support,"

"Bombardment? We're a bit busy up here Spartan,"

"No, reinforcements,"

"Okay, I'm sending Cortana, one Vulture and two Longswords to help you out,"

"Thanks ma'am,"

The link went off.

"Cortana,"

"Yes Commander,"

"Go help them out,"

"Aye, aye,"

Cortana removed herself from the system and entered a Vulture and remote controlled two Longswords. With her little force, she descended into Metropolis. With the AI gone, Thom filled in.

"Thom I need a firing solution for the enemy flagship," ordered Miranda

Thom appeared on the holo-projector as a young archives curator, "Done, ma'am,"

"Fire,"

The Gordanian flagship in the first wave managed to navigate through the field of debris and derelict ships, the commander of that vessel got careless and decided to break for Earth. _Majestic_ put a stop to that. An intense blue beam shot out from the Dreadnought's main weapons, and burned through the Gordanian flagship's hull. The vessel had been skewered causing a violent decompression throwing out many of its crew members into the dark abyss.

Upon seeing the Keyship, the Gordanians turned tail and ran to other task forces. They did not return to the space above the Pacific Ocean, for it was where _Majestic_ lurked.

"Talk about psychological warfare," muttered Mendez

"Commander," said Thom, "the majority of Gordanian forces have landed on Earth, the ones still in orbit have vectored to the Watchtower,"

"Get us there,"

"As you command,"

Miranda smiled inwardly, it felt nice to have a ship of overwhelming power under her, instead of the other way around. However she still missed _In Amber Clad_.

**XXxxXX**

The strike team stood around for a while longer, numerous battles still raged across the city. Batman, Superman and Supergirl were flying above denying Gordanaian some airspace. Pity, John wished to see some Longswords circle around, but Keyes would've used them to combat the Gordanian forces in space.

Kelly looked up skyward to see the Vulture escorted by two Longsword fighters come in fast. The gunship landed whilst the Longswords circled overhead. John strode into the cabin of the craft, and touched the console. Again an icy, mercury feeling flooded the back of his head.

"Good to be back Chief," said Cortana

John stepped out of the Vulture; US Army soldiers looked at in awe.

"This never gets old," whispered Kelly through the Spartan's private link.

"Yeah, guess so," replied John, he then contacted Linda, "Linda, where are you?"

"We're advancing to the enemy base from the west, we should be in position to cover you in about five minutes,"

"Alright copy that,"

John walked outside to see Wonder Woman, and J'onn just arrive holding Fred and Ash, they lowered the two onto the ground. John quickly ran over to them and checked their bio-monitors.

"Just minor injuries Fred, and Ash, you have light bruising, and a dislocated shoulder,"

Diana looked at Spartan-117 and the others, she never could hear what they say, only see their body language. It annoyed her and the Leaguers because they felt left out in some way.

"Ow, ow, ow, my chest hurts," muttered Fred, "you got morphine there?"

John nodded and refiled Fred's suit with medical gear. Fred gave a sigh of relief as his suit injected him with painkillers. John turned his attention to Ash, who was rolling his right shoulder.

"My right shoulder is fubared," grunted Ash

"Let me help you there," said Tom

He helped Ash remove his suit's right shoulder plate.

"This might tickle," said Tom

Ash braced himself as Tom placed his hands on Ash's shoulder. With a few quick jolts accompanied by sickening popping and crack sounds, Ash's shoulder was relocated properly. Ash gritted his teeth, "Son of a… that hurt,"

Linda then called John, "John we are in position,"

"Okay we'll begin the Assault soon," said John on an open channel and the suit's speakers, "Cortana, soften them up,"

"Aye, aye Chief,"

John, Fred, Ash and Tom jogged lightly over to the rest of the group. The sun was still out and the light reflected off their visors giving a look that inspired hope. All in all, there was Wonder Woman, J'onn, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, the Spartans minus Johnson, one U.S Army Ranger fireteam, two platoons of Army regulars, and three Bradley LAVs. This group will be assaulting the base from the southern approach.

"Listen up soldiers," said John, the combatants snapped to attention.

"We will be assaulting them from the south; there are tank traps and barricades up ahead making it impassable terrain for armour. So LAVs hang back and provide suppressive fire, snipers spread out and pick off any guys at the fortifications. Machine gunners, try to keep death from above away from us, the rest of you on me,"

Two Longswords screeched in, piloted by Cortana, they flew in and racked up the base with gun fire from their ventral guns. They fighters then released its missile payload, smashing down the southern and eastern gates, and a couple of barracks. The Longswords pulled away and flew overhead providing cover. Now it was the Vulture's turn.

The gunship came in high, pummelling the Gordanian positions with auto-canon fire and missiles, throwing earth and body parts in every direction. Finishing off the rest of its supplies, Cortana set the auto-pilot to return to _Majestic_.

"Let's do this," said Fred

"Attack," yelled John

The LAVs moved into position and opened fire with their auto-cannons. John lead the charge, he unslung his BR55 SR and sprinted onto the field. Kelly was a few metres to his left, Fred to his right, and the Spartan-IIIs had fanned out. The soldiers that followed the Spartans took cover behind the tank traps and barricades as Gordanian soldiers fired at them. None dared to take wing or they'd be cut down by a storm of bullets.

"Linda, gun position, two-hundred metres north east of my position," said John

"Got it John," she replied

Six shots rang out from Linda and Mark's position, the anti-material rounds tore through the emplacements instantly killing the Gordanians, and just to be safe, Olivia hosed it down with automatic fire.

John breathed as he ran across the scorched Earth, with mortar rounds exploding around him left and right. He aimed his weapon and fired in short bursts as he sprinted for the main gate.

"Spartan-IIIs, stay here with the Rangers and regulars, and cover us," ordered John, "Kelly and Fred, with me,"

**XXxxXX**

Stewart silently applauded the Spartans' tenacity and bravado. An excellently coordinated attack on the Gordanian base, he watched as the Spartans charged, firing their weapons with deadly accuracy. Shayera swooped in every now and then to club a stray Gordanian with her mace. Wonder Woman picked up wrecked cars with her lasso and slingshot them at the base with devastating effect. This battle will be over in no time.

Stewart instinctively threw a protective bubble over himself and the soldiers nearby as they were blanketed with plasma and mortar fire from the winged lizard like aliens.

He saw the Spartans move with speed and accuracy that were far too superior for a human, even Batman to possess; it was close to that of a machine. But they moved with such fluidness machine could not have. Could they be human? Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, J'onn and GL knew that these Spartans were human, their guess proven to be true after they saw a Spartan remove a section of his armour to allow his comrade to relocate his shoulder. But they did wonder if the Spartans were some form of hybrid.

Stewart listened to the comlink traffic, he observed as the Spartan-IIIs hang back with the US soldiers whilst the Spartan-IIs moved to the base. He also noticed that their sharpshooters were extremely good. Hitting targets that even some of the world's best snipers had a hard time hitting, in a time frame that was practically impossible.

All of this added to their mystery, all of this, the League was itching to find out.

"May be we should help them out," said John

"Agreed," said J'onn, "Green Lantern and Diana, you two aid the assault on the base, Hawkgirl and I will cover you,"

With that, J'onn and Hawkgirl flew up to engage an oncoming horde of airborne Gordanian soldiers.

Hawkgirl threw herself into the fray. Swinging her mace wildly.

"HURRAH!" she yelled

She dodged and parried blows from the Gordanians. She flew up higher and brought her mace down, caving in a skull of a Gordanian soldier. J'onn on the other, snaked and shifted his form to strangled and constrict his opponents. The immobile Gordanians plummeted from the sky, and landed on the earth with a sickening thwack.

**XXxxXX**

"Keep it tight people," John breathed as his strike teams of Spartans were advancing on the Gordanian base.

He took cover behind some barricades as some Gordanian fortifications opened up at the sight of him. The other Spartans and US soldiers were pinned down as well. Hawkgirl and J'onn were busy flying overhead smashing down hordes of airborne Gordanians.

"Gunny, draw their fire!" ordered John

"I'm on it," replied GL

Stewart projected a bubble shield and flew along the charcoal earth, whipping up ash and dust. The air around him was soon filled with explosions and impacts from the Gordanain weapons.

"Better hurry guys, this is draining a lot of my rings power," gritted Stewart

Wonder Woman flew in, drawing away some of the Gordanian soldier's attention. She blocked off their shots with her bracelets.

"Impressive," whispered Linda

The sniper fired another shot, decapitating a Gordanian, sending him reeling back with blood spurting from the neck. John sent his silent thanks to the Spartans inside the tall structure. He then turned to Lucy.

"Okay your up,"

Lucy nodded; she slung her rifle onto her back and shouldered the M41 SSR MAV/AW rocket launcher. She aimed at the fortification, and fired. A white plume of smoke left the barrel as the rocket streaked towards its target. They were rewarded with a load explosion and flying debris.

"This is where we split, let's go! Let's go!" yelled John

The LAVs shifter their fire, US soldiers advanced to the base creating a perimeter, with the Spartan-IIIs aiding them. John, Kelly and Fred advance through the main gate, rifles at the ready, sweeping and scanning their surroundings.

"We've got barracks on the right, armour on the left and HQ up ahead," said Cortana

"Okay thanks," said John, he switched his comlink to contact Johnson, "how are you guys holding up?"

"We've met heavy resistance Chief but we will break through

Wonder Woman and Green Lantern landed next to the Spartans. John turned and faced his team.

**XXxxXX**

_These lots are damn pro_ thought Stewart; he made sure his chest camera was recording so that later the other Leaguers could see the Spartans in action.

"Damn these guys move fast," said Stewart

"The gods must have gifted them these abilities," said Diana

Stewart contacted Batman, "Batman, are you getting this?"

Bruce was piloting the batplane, Superman to his right, and Supergirl to his left. Both using their heat vision. He looked down at the console, and saw from Green Lantern's camera's point of view, (aerial view) the Spartan-IIs move with great speed and accuracy far greater than any normal human.

Diana and Stewart hovered in and landed next to the Spartans. Spartan-117 was busy issuing orders.

**XXxxXX**

Johnson was now in command, the poor Lieutenant had just gotten his head blown off, and this now made Johnson in charge.

"Alright you greenhorns, time to attack,"

The Sergeant Major reeled out orders for the attack. The LAVs remained behind to provide suppressive fire, while the infantry advanced.

"MOVE OUT!" he yelled

The Bradley LAVs moved over the ridge line and opened fire. Under their cover, the soldiers charged with Johnson taking point. He could hear soldiers coughing as they chocked on the smoke, Johnson didn't have that problem because his helmet air scrubbers fixed that problem. The air was thick with gunfire. Sporadic weapon discharges and frantic orders dominated the comlinks. Mortars exploded left and right around Johnson, even taking a few US Regular Soldiers and Rangers. Their bodies flung into the air and landing on the charcoal earth. Huntress and Black Canary had to remain behind, they would move up when the east gate had been secured. Although the two heroines were excellent martial artists, Green Arrow didn't want them running into what Johnson had dubbed "meat grinder".

"Keep moving!" He urged

Some soldiers took cover behind the tank traps and barricades, returning fire at the fortifications, while other elements advanced. Johnson looked up into the sky, his eye bulged.

"INCOMING!" yelled Green Arrow

A Gordanian mortar round landed right next to Johnson. A poor regular was blown in half by the blast, while Johnson was thrown a few metres forward. His suit had protected him, but he felt he was blacking out. His last images were soldiers pushing forward.

Huntress and Black Canary saw what had just happened.

"Green Arrow is down and so is the Sergeant Major!" cried Canary

Huntress cursed; there would be no realistic way to get to them in time. They hoped the other soldiers moved up quickly and break through to them.

**XXxxXX**

John surveyed the base from cover. A few Gordanian soldiers flew or ran past firing half-hearted shots before being shot by Olivia, Linda and Mark or running for cover.

"Kelly, take these explosives and destroy their armoury, then swing by the east to draw some heat off Johnson."

She nodded.

"I'll go with her," added Wonder Woman

The two went off towards the barracks.

"Gunny, you think you can handle the armoury by yourself?"

Stewart nodded

"Okay, once you are done, meet up with us at the HQ, Fred with me,"

"Alright let's do this," grinned Fred

The team separated and went off to complete their objectives.

"Chief?" Miranda's voice broke through the comlink

"Yes ma'am,"

"I'm sending you two Longsword, one Shortsword and a Vulture to support you, after that I can't send anymore, were going to pull the Watchtower out of a rut,"

**XXxxXX**

Bruce swerved his fighter to dodge incoming fire from Gordanian fighters. He manuevered around and sprayed a fighter with his guns. The craft coughed, spewing out smoke as it plummeted to the ground below.

Supergirl spun around and caught a fighter by its tail. She blasted the engines with her heat vision, and then swung the vehicle into a Skyscrapper where some Gordanians were holed up in.

"Well, that's the last of them," the young Kryptonian said.

"Nice work Supergirl," complimented Batman

"Was that a compliment I heard?" grinned Supergirl

"From mister tall, dark and broody himself?" finished Superman

Bruce sighed, "You've been talking to Wonder Woman again haven't you?"

The two cousins just smiled and nodded.

A transmission broke through; it was Booster Gold, heaving Elongated Man over his shoulders.

"We could use some help guys," said Booster Gold, his voice lacked the confidence and cheeriness he normally possessed.

"Superman and Supergirl, go help them out, I'll finish up here and join Green Lantern," said the Dark Knight

The Kryptonians nodded and flew off to a hidden Javelin which would take them back to the Watchtower.

"Please hurry," urged Gold, "the attack force was mostly boarding crafts, no sign of their warships yet,"

**XXxxXX**

Thom piloted _Majestic_ through the field of Derelict ships. The Dreadnought simply went through it as if it was a stroll in a park as it bulldozed numerous Gordanian vessels out of the way. Light tremors could be felt when _Majestic_ struck a flagship or supercarrier.

"ETA to Watchtower, thirty minutes," said the AI

"Got it, call in the fighters," ordered Keyes

"At once Commander,"

The Longswords' engines flared to life as they piloted themselves back to _Majestic._

Arriving at the Watchtower, _Majestic_ still had its cloak engaged. Sensors showed a Javelin was inbound to the Space station that was riddled with damage and Gordanian boarding craft.

"There's nothing we can do," muttered Halsey

"Except keep any other Gordanians off their backs," finished Mendez

"Thom, deploy the Longswords," ordered Keyes

The interceptors left the Dreadnought and circled around the Watchtower, ready to pick off any inbound Gordanian boarding craft.

Miranda frowned as she watched the screen, the Watchtower was being assaulted and there was no possible way she could help them out, _Majestic_ just had to lay low in cloaking. There were a light compliment of Forerunner regular sentinels, major sentinels, enforcers and engineers. Enough to keep the ship in good repair, contingency of a light Flood outbreak and defence from boarding, but not enough to send help to the Watchtower, and even if she could, the enforcers would not be able to provide much help in the narrow corridors of the station, and the sentinels would be taken down easily. No, she'd keep them on _Majestic_ where'd they be most effective. Hopefully in later campaigns on Earth she'd be able to deploy some to help the Spartans, Mendez, Halsey and Keyes longed to see the enforcers in action. She'd heard John's story about them, the enforcers make excellent close air support according to him. Soon the Strato-Sentinel, Keyes had sent to the asteroid field to collect resources will soon return, apparently Halsey and Mendez had a new tank design in mind they wanted to make and field test, The Juggernaut, a cross between a Grizzly Tank and Rhino Tank.

**XXxxXX**

Superman piloted the Javelin back to the Watchtower, he could see squadrons of UNSC Longsword interceptors engage and destroy a number of Gordanian inbound boarding craft, hopefully that would either thin them out or deter them from sending anymore so that the Leaguers had time to regroup and be in full possession of the Watchtower.

Thankfully the Hangar bay was still in the Leaguers hands. As soon as they got out of the Javelin, Booster Gold came to greet them.

"Hey guys," he panted, "we have lots of Leaguers in the medical bay, cafeteria is still in our hands, and we've lost a couple of civvies,"

"What about the Gordanians?" asked Supergirl

"There's just too damn many," Gold shook his head, "good think Captain Atom was around,"

"Alright let's see what we can do," smiled the Kryptonian

After a good hours-worth of fighting, the Watchtower was finally in the hands of the Justice League. The majority of Gordanian casualties were unconscious soldiers, with the few exceptions. Superman wondered how the Spartans would have responded; probably breached airlocks, bullet holes and blood ridden hallways. Clark left the thought alone as he and Kara headed towards the medical wing to help out the many injured Justice League Heroes and civilian workers.

**XXxxXX**

Johnson woke up to the smell of ozone, around him laid fallen soldiers, some riddled with smouldering wounds, other torn to shreds. Green Arrow was lying unconscious behind a tank trap which kept him safe from enemy fire. The Sergeant Major was cut off, Avery could see a number of platoons attempting to break through to him.

Regaining his senses and expelling the taste of blood in his mouth, Avery looked up. And through the view of his cracked polarised visor, he saw a very angry Gordanian captain. The alien roared as he lifted his axe and swung down. Avery rolled to his right, the axe narrowly missing him. Johnson unsheathed his combat knife and rammed it into the Gordanian's meaty thighs. The winged alien cried a cry of agony and rage as it let go of its axe imbedded in the earth and attempted to remove the knife. Taking in a deep breath, Johnson kicked the Gordanian's groin, the creature howled again. Avery then swept the alien's legs out, making him land in a heap. Johnson gave another kick in his head and scrambled to stand up. He un-holstered his M6D pistol and fired three rounds into the winged alien's head. The Gordanian squirmed and twitched as the bullets tore through his head.

Johnson holstered his pistol and retrieved his fallen rifle. Black Canary and Huntress had moved up to join him.

"That was impressive," said Huntress

"Thanks," nodded the Spartan-I

The two jogged lightly while taking cover, towards Green Arrow, who had just regained consciousness.

"Easy Cupid, let me help you," said Johnson

Johnson looked at the wound on Green Arrow's abdomen, it's was quite deep. Avery grabbed a biofoam canister from his medpac and inserted the nozzle into the wound.

"This is going to sting,"

Canary held Oliver Queen's hand. The man grunted and gritted his teeth as a burning sensation ravaged through his wound when the biofoam was injected. The intense pain dulled and was replaced by a numbing sensation.

"This will hold you for now, but after this fight," said Johnson, "you better get it checked out by a corpsman, got it Cupid?"

Oliver nodded, "let's finish this," he said as he grabbed his bow.

The main gate was not too far away, and now the US soldiers had advanced further.

"Black Canary, see what you can do about the winged bastards at the gate,"

"Okay,"

Johnson provided covering fire, suppressing the Gordanians. Black Canary opened her mouth and a high sonic screech followed, dazing the defenders. Avery then pulled the pin from his frag grenade and lobbed it at the fortification at the gate.

An explosion rang out, sending blood and gore out the firing slits of the fortification.

"Move up!" yelled Johnson

Avery saw some of the Gordanians retreat as Kelly ran past them, firing and lobbing grenades. Her speed was incredible; she was running at around 100km/h.

**XXxxXX**

Kelly and Wonder Woman had destroyed the barracks no sweat. The Spartan enjoyed the company of the Amazon, and vice versa.

Kelly shifted over to the main gate, she saw that the attackers could use some help as the defending Gordanians gave them a hardtime.

"Follow me Wonder Woman," said Kelly

"Whenever you're ready," came the reply

What followed next was totally unexpected for the Amazon Champion. The Spartan-II charged off at a great speed.

_Hera! She is no ordinary human_, thought Diana as she flew off after Kelly. Diana watched in awe as Kelly sprinted fast numerous Gordanians, some were blown apart by the grenades she lobbed, others danced and dropped like potato sacks as the armour piercing bullets tore through them.

The Amazon continued to watch as Kelly literally bulldozed a Gordanian over, his bone shattered and organs ruptured, landing with a sickening sluggish thwack. The Spartan then punched another soldier in the face. Her hand entered and exited the skull of the Gordanian, raggedly decapitating him.

Diana then picked up an armoured husk and threw it at a Godanian lance, crushing them, a squelch emanated from them.

With the hit and run complete, they had drawn off numerous Gordanians, allowing Johnson to advance. Meeting up with the Master Chief, Diana looked at Kelly, and saw an image of a rabbit on her chest plate.

_Well that explains a lot,_ pondered Diana.

"I take it you were successful?" said the Master Chief as he gripped his needler gun

"Yeah, here they come,"

The Gordanian soldiers rounded the corner, only to run into an ambush. The Chief firing his needler gun, blanketing the enemy with crystalline projectiles, one Gordanian lieutenant copped seven needler rounds in his chest, a few seconds later, a brilliant violet explosion enveloped the formation. Sending bone, blood, armour and flesh in every direction, however more still came. They were instantly gunned down by Mark, Linda and Olivia from their elevated positions.

"Impressive," muttered Wonder Woman

The attack force continued onwards.

**XXxxXX**

"Objective sighted," whispered John

The Spartans were moving through a makeshift street flanked by rubble and collapsed Gordanian structures. At the end, was a heavily damaged but still standing enemy command post.

"We've got more Gordanians inbound guys," said Cortana as she monitored the Clarion Spy Drones flying overhead.

"Defensive wedge formation, move it," ordered John, "Linda, do you have an angel on hostiles?"

"Negative John," came the reply, "I'll send Olivia and Mark to another location so they can support you,"

"Don't bother," said John, "just keep those Gordanians from flying,"

"You got it, they're easier to shoot down than those Covie drones,"

The link went off. The Spartans were now standing in an intersection.

John switched to his BR55HB SR, aka the battle rifle and set it to be automatic fire. Fred switched to his MA5C IWCS, and Kelly changed to her dual M7/Caseless submachine gun.

"Here they come," warned Cortana

The Spartans, aimed there weapons and waited for the Gordanian hordes to appear. The wait did not last long as the first lance came into view.

"OPEN FIRE!" yelled John

Round after round tore through the Gordanian ranks. Armour piercing bullets over penetrating their targets and embedding themselves into soldiers behind them were having a devastating effect.

The Gordanians charged in, typical of their bravado they tended to fight with melee weapons. This gave the Spartans the advantage as tens of Gordanians were torn to bloody shreds with gunfire.

Wonder Woman flew overhead, drawing away some enemy fire. The Amazon hurled rubbles and the Gordanians, further adding damage.

Depleting her M7 ammunition, Kelly switched to her shotgun and fired the last four shells, shredding two Gordanians' chest and wings. The Spartan then un-holstered her sidearm and continued to fire, she pulled back to Fred's position, there she lobbed grenades with great effect on the advancing Gordanians.

John slapped in his last clip for his battle rifle and handed a pistol mag to Kelly. John concentrated his fire on Gordanian officers and those that were armed with firearms. Most of the Gordanian armed with guns were at the base perimeter defending from assaults.

Fred finished off his last clip, holstered his weapons and unsheathed his combat knives from his shoulder sheaths. He held the knife in reverse grip with his left hand and normal with his right. John tossed Kelly a spare energy sword; the two activated the energy weapons and breathed.

"Charge," John uttered.

The three Spartans rushed the remaining Gordanians, crunching over bones and twisted rubble. One of the winged aliens swung at Fred, who sides stepped and rammed his blade into the alien's jugular. The Gordanian dropped the weapon and grasped his neck in a vain effort to stop the bleeding. Fred delivered a punch which snapped the Gordanian's head back breaking his neck. Fred then rushed another and slashed at his chest, erupting in a pool of blood.

John sprinted full pelt into five Gordanian soldiers, he shoulder slammed into the small group. Unable to stand against such Kinetic energy, the five broke and crushed. Bones crunching, penetrating the skin, which caused bleeding. He then turned his attention to a Gordanian who was charging at him with a battle axe. John ducked and avoided the electrified bladed end. He brought up his right arm, where he held his blade. Burning through the axe, the weapon clattered uselessly onto the charcoaled ground. He continued his uppercut motion, slashing the Gordanian in half diagonally and cauterising the wound. The alien fell back, with a shocked expression on his face.

Kelly on the other hand was a flurry of slashing movement. She twirled in the air, hacking and stabbing at the Gordanians. One Gordanian officer was unlucky enough to be stabbed in the stomach. Kelly pulled out the energy sword, and side kicked the winged alien in the chest. Although the officer was wearing a chest plate which played a part in stopping Kelly from kicking her way through the entire body. The plate was heavily dented, crushing the rib cage, and collapsing the lungs of the Gordanian. The officer was kicked clear and landed in a heap, with all of his arteries ruptured and bones shattered.

**XXxxXX**

Diana, swooped down and picked up two Gordanians. She then hurled the soldiers at two other shooters, the end result was a clash of flesh and bone that knocked all four of them unconscious, but it didn't kill them.

The Amazon saw the Spartan's close quarter fighting prowess, and was greatly impressed. Clearly they had been excellently trained in all forms of combat and martial arts. However she recoiled in slight horror as she saw the many bodies of Gordanian soldiers, smouldering and mutilated in ways that she never imagined of in the many centuries that she had lived through. She noticed the weapon that 117 and 087 used for close quarter combat were energy swords of some kind. They glowed a violet and blue hue; she had never seen anything like it. Well the closest thing would have to be Shayera's aka Hawkgirl's mace made from Nth Metal or Green Lantern's generated axe.

"I think that finishes that," remarked Diana as she landed next to the Spartans.

"Not yet Princess Diana," said Cortana, "we have more coming,"

Diana was caught off guard by the AI referring to her as her own title. Well she is an ambassador after all.

The Princess stood and observed the playing fields. The Spartans instinctively stepped around her to shield her. Of course she could protect herself very easily, she did appreciate the gesture.

The Gordanians quickly appeared. One group covered the way the Task Force had just came through, and the other two covered the road the cut through the intersection. Diana and the Spartans were effectively surrounded; the only way of escape was to the command post.

Wonder Woman tensed as she braced for the air to thicken with weapon fire. She heard gunfire, but instead of her and the Spartans being shot. She watched as one group drop instantly, as wisps of white lines shot through the air, decapitating the Gordanians. She knew it was from the Spartans that 117 had stationed up in a nearby building. Obviously they had changed position so that they could aid Diana and the Spartans 087, 1117 and 104.

The other group was literally blown up, shot at and sonic blasted away. Diana could instantly tell that US soldiers, Huntress, Black Canary and Green Arrow were responsible for that.

As for the last group, half of them were struck down by a green wall and the other half dropped as batarangs and bat-shurikens were embedded into them. Obviously the work of Green Lantern and Batman.

The US soldiers moved into the area and created a perimeter, with the airspace clean thanks to J'onn and Hawkgirl, the US Army started to fly in airborne troops and Bardley APCs/LAVs. With an outpost set up, the heroes regrouped with the three Spartans.

**XXxxXX**

Bruce landed onto the ground softly and deactivated the current coursing through his cape, turning it flaccid again, and fluttered in the wind. He looked at the Spartans, one was dual wielding combat knives, on his chest plate read _UNSC Spartan-II-104._ Next to him stood Spartan-117, the content on his chest plate was the same as 104, except the number was 117. And the last Spartan's chest plate read _UNSC Spartan-II-087_ with an image of a rabbit next to it. He noticed 117 and 087 had an energy sword of some kind in their hands, still activated and dangerous. Around them was a bloodied mess of Gordanian soldiers.

_Well at least they're on our side_ he thought. Bruce heard some comments from soldiers who were moving in.

"Shit, I know that mess there is not Justice League style, it's definitely the Spartans,"

"Holy crap! Spartans,"

"Woah, look at their gear dude,"

"What is UNSC?"

"I'm gonna go out on limb and say the 'UN' part of 'UNSC' is United Nations,"

"Good guess, but as if the UN would have such a project,"

"Yeah, I guess so,"

Bruce was equally perplexed by the Spartans' mystery, well once the war is over, he could find out. He then turned his attention to Diana; he suddenly felt an urge to kiss her. Oh well, he had to remain neutral and professional, they can snog each other senseless later.

Stewart chuckled and nudged Batman, and whispered something in Bruce's ear.

"I'm so proud of you Bats,"

"What are you talking about?" Bruce growled, and gave Stewart his infamous batglare.

"There are four people on Earth immune to that," said Stewart, "me, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Jeeves,"

**(A/N: Jeeves is what (Flash Wally West) calls Alfred… for those of you who do not know.)**

"There's nothing going on between us," Batman said in defiance

Good thing no one else was paying attention to their very out of place conversation.

"Uh-huuuh…" grinned Stewart

"What?"

"I never said anything about that, but now that you mentioned it. Hehehe," chuckled GL, "good thing Flash doesn't know, and another good thing is that she ain't bossy as when we were kids,"

"Has it ever occurred to you that you are stepping over the line?"

"Stepping over? HAH! I'm in deep,"

Stewart left grinning, while Batman stood still, fighting conflicting emotions.

**XXxxXX**

"Thanks Linda," said Kelly as she spoke into her comlink, "I thought John told you guys to hold your positions,"

"He suggested it, besides things got very quiet, so Mark and I decided to move to the next building, while Olivia held the fort,"

John and Kelly deactivated the energy swords. Kelly handed back the weapon, but John gestured her to keep it. The two attached the hilts to their armour's magnetic plates. Fred wiped the blade clean of blood, and then sheathed them back into his shoulder sheaths.

"Special delivery," remarked Cortana as a Pelican descended, it dropped a care package.

The three Spartans rearmed themselves. John and Kelly replaced their energy swords for new ones with full batteries. John then moved his needler gun to his thigh plates thus allowing space for the Gravity Hammer. Kelly, placed her two M7s on her thigh magnetic plates as well, slung a Spartan laser onto her back, and held her shotgun in hand. Fred traded his MA5C for an AIE-A86H Machine Gun, and placed a M41 rocket launcher onto his back. Johnson then jogged over to the Spartans and just refilled is ammo. With that done, the Pelican took-off.

"Almost their guys," said Cortana, "once we get to the Gordanian Command post, hopefully I will be able to hack my way into their systems and cause some damage or confusion which will buy us sometime,"

With the heroes rallied together with the Spartans and US soldiers, they began for the next phase of their attack.

Batman walked to the centre of the group and spoke.

"We'll take the command post by pincer formation, with the LAVs and Abram MBT taking points at the pincer, and centre of the formation, infantry will move through rubble and mop up any survivors," said Batman, "with that command post out of the picture, the Gordanian forces in Metropolis will be left in disarray,"

Fred nodded, "Let's do this," his voice boomed over the speakers

"I'll get my sharpshooters to support us," said John, he keyed his comlink, "Linda, get Mark and Olivia to move up to our position,"

"Got it John," came the reply.

**XXxxXX**

Bruce in great fascination as three more Spartans appeared. Two carried huge rifles and the other a heavy machine gun and an anti-tank weapon of sorts.

"Impressive," he muttered

Bruce watched as 117 turned towards the new arrivals and proceeded to speak on loud speaker so that everyone could hear.

"Nice work oh-five-eight,"

"Where do you want us to set up Chief?" came the reply, the voice was feminine and came from the figure with _UNSC Spartan-II-058_

"Semicircle around the enemy command post, on my mark you guys gun down what you can see and cover our advance,"

The three Spartans nodded ran off.

"Cortana, soften them up,"

"Aye, aye Chief,"

Two huge planes flew in low and fast, similar to the fighters Bruce had saw earlier, but these had a protruding back and by the looks of it, a bomber. As the passed overhead, a thunderous roar swept over them. The Dark Knight watched as they flew further away, a split second later, two huge plumes of smoke and fire erupted; sending bits and pieces of debris careening towards them.

_Alright, I really wanna know who these guys are_ thought Bruce

"Let's move," said 117

**XXxxXX**

John and the other Spartans assembled around the command post, it still stood tall after a beating it took, but was missing huge chunks. A small number of Gordanians tried to put up a botched resistance but the Bradley LAV's and Abrams put an end to that with their heavy firepower. The Abrams would tear through the hull of the command post with their depleted uranium shells and the Bradleys would fire bursts or their TOW missiles suppressing infantry.

The Spartans cautiously moved in, Linda, Olivia and Mark remained outside and kept them covered. Trudging over the rubble carefully the small strike force entered the shattered but still standing and large Gordanian Command post. It was a quick mop up, with Fred hosing down hallways with heavy automatic gunfire, John slashing his way through the enemy ranks and Kelly sprinting her way through.

**XXxxXX**

Seeing the Spartans in action had proved Bruce's suspicion. They were not machine, reason one two of them had fallen unconscious when the bomb went off, second reason they moved too fluidly and third they had small subtle movements that would be difficult to imitate consciously. However there were reasons to suggest that they're not humans. The feats they had performed were incredible; any human attempting to do that would cause so much strain to the body it would break.

The Dark Knight noticed that the Spartans' combat methods were extreme brutal and swift. Assessing the damage, it came to Bruce's attention that half of the Gordanian soldiers were missing a limb or limbs, a quarter was cut into uneven halves, and the last quarter was riddled with bullets, or the odd weapon called the needler. He would take some samples after the skirmish in Metropolis was over and do some research.

Wiping out the remaining defenders, the strike team moved back to minimal safe distance as the Spartans and demolition teams planted charges.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" yelled a demolition expert, "IN THREE, TWO, ONE, MARK!"

The Gordanian command post was consumed in a column of smoke and fire. The threat in Metropolis was now just a rabble as national guards moped up the remaining enemy forces.

Bruce and Clark returned to Gotham, one of the very few major cities untouched by the war; while the most of the Leaguers in Metropolis went back to the heavily damaged Watchtower, a small number including Wally and Diana remained behind to help with clean up.

Bruce and Clark went to a privately owned dock yard by Wayne Enterprises. It was a change of scenery from the Batcave to a brightly lit chamber with grey concrete walls and floors. Another plus, there was no smell of bat droppings.

The Dark Knight took off his cowl and closed his eyes. The shells from the bullets indicated they were made in the 26th century. Of course there were many stories of Leaguers being transported through time, with Superman being a fine example when he met up with a humble Vandal Savage. But Bruce scrapped that idea, for when he, Stewart and Diana travelled through time there were no indication that mankind possessed the kind of technology the Spartans held.

Booster Gold sent him footages of Longsword interceptors circling around the Watchtower, destroying any Gordanian boarding craft that dared come. So many mysteries surrounded the Spartans. _Could they be metas?_ Bruce pondered _possibly, but the precision they inhibited, no Meta has such precision and reflex time like they do, well except for Flash._

"It's bothering you isn't it Bruce?" sighed Clark as he looked over the test samples.

"You have no idea Clark," said Bruce as he scratched his scalp.

The two continued examining the samples. _Well at least he didn't prod any further_ Clark breathed in relief.

"Nothing, abso-freakin-lutely nothing," muttered Bruce

"Maybe we should take a break?" suggested the Man of Steel

"Five minutes, but here look at this," Bruce played some footage on the large monitor.

It showed the Spartans fighting prowess, their precision and brutality. Their body language showed no guilt, remorse or joy from ripping a Gordaninan to bloody shreds.

"See that?" said Bruce, "their style suggests that they are military. Perfectly disciplined and they fight with fire arms, and the fact they address each other by rank or number strongly indicates that they are,"

"Well that's a start,"

"There technology shows that they are from a very advanced civilisation. Diana and I have seen them in possession of personal energy shields."

More footage played, this one was when Diana was busy holding her ground when a team of heavy weapon Gordanians burst through a door. Spartan-117 stepped between them and the Amazon, taking the entire brunt of the blast for her, the laser struck the 117 dead in the chest, but a golden glow encased him. Then Batman came into action by throwing some batarangs and bat-shurikens. Clark watched the odd but devastating weapon called the Needler do its work; tracking and shredding its targets to pieces.

"Impressive," said Clark

"Not to mention the vehicles they have," added Bruce

Just then the elevator sprang to life and lowered. Alfred walked off the platform, carrying a large lunch box. The butler set the meal onto the table.

"Break time gentlemen, sorry I'm late but we ran out of fruit back at the manor,"

"Coming Alfred," replied the two heroes. They walked over and took their seat at the table.

"Lasagne for Master Clark, Pesto Linguine for Master Wayne, and fettuccine cabonara for me,"

The three men sat down ate their lunch and shared stories. After finishing, the returned to their work, with Alfred helping out of course.

After hours of zero progress, Bruce decided to call it a day and tend to other things.

**XXxxXX**

**A/N: Well that is a wrap, please review**

**I have noticed that I have an obsession with Sweet William Cigars, and who wouldn't. The name Sweet William Cigars has a classy and tough ring to it.**

**Well I hope this Chapter tied up any concerns you have. Next chapter will be sure to be all guns blazing. Especially the one about GL, however that is his background and stance, all created by the creators of GL, so don't complain to me about his personality and background, send it to DC Comics.**

**I will focus on the JL side of the story later on.**

**Please review**

**Kudos**


	3. Pacification

**Mopping up in Australia**

**XXxxXX**

It had been a few days after the Metropolis clean-up operation. Leaguers were spread thin over the Earth trying to contain the Gordanians. Massive League casualties were taken in space and thousands of soldiers lost their lives during the first leg of the war.

John and Fred sat in the hold of the Pelican dropship. The Spartans had been split up into groups and sent around the globe. Tom and Lucy to Europe; Mark and Olivia to Asia; Linda and Ash in America; Kelly and Johnson in Africa, and John and Fred in Australia, looking at his in built HUD tacpad, he checked his jetpack and went to sleep. Fred on the other hand just performed some knife tricks to pass the time.

An hour or so later, the Pelican reached Australian East coast, and touched down in the nation's capital at noon on a sunny day. Blowing up the fallen leaves, the Pelican extended its landing gear and landed. John and Fred disembarked the dropship and looked at the cityscape. Canberra was more of government city as it was where a large number of public servants dwelled. Rubble, shards and Ash dominated the landscape, as the unique tall structures that stood proud on their perch where smouldering wrecks on its side.

John and Fred saw images of other cities in Australia; they weren't in any better shape than Canberra. Stepping off the Pelican, the dropship took off and returned to _Majestic_.

"So what do we do John?"

"Hunting time!"

The two Spartans carried a Forerunner Assault Rifle **(A/N: calling it "FAR") **which beared an uncanny resemblance of the Covenant Carbine used by the Elites. The difference in appearance is the weapon had a thicker barrel; the magazine was loaded into the weapon like a bullpup weapon, foregrip, optics at the top, ammo counter at the side and matte grey colour theme. Difference in performance is the FAR is a beam weapon that fired blue bolts travelling at extremely high velocities, the weapon is automatic and a greater ammo mag/battery cell than its Covenant counterpart.

Looking around, there were many soldiers and civilians starring at the two Spartans. After the war, is to begin a long healing process, but the thought can wait. John and Fred had more pressing matters.

John strode over to a police officer.

"What's the situation?" he asked

"Well Spartan," the officer breathed, "Australian troops have pushed back the Gordanians to the political area of Canberra. So Embassies and the parliament house are still in their hands,"

"What is the estimated enemy strength?"

"We're getting patchy reports but there are more than enough to give or sloggers a tough time, our units are no longer combat effective. All we can do is hold them off for a while, some help would be greatly needed while my guys get these civvies to a safe place."

"Okay, we'll see what we can do,"

The officer nodded and went back to his task.

John walked back to Fred, who was administering medical aid to a number of wounded.

"Going's tough here, and they don't have reinforcements. You and I will clear out the parliament house, and have them move up and mop up the rest of the city."

"Alright let's do it," said Fred

**XXxxXX**

The two Spartans jogged lightly over the bridge that stretched over Lake Burley Griffin and towards parliament house.

Observing the environment, pillars were scarred with energy weapons fire. Over turned cars riddled with holes, and fallen trees. Up ahead was a resting platoon that looked like they'd just been through hell and back.

"Good to see you Spartans," said the Staff Sergeant in his late twenties

"Sergeant," replied Fred and John

"Well as you can see, we took a bit of a rattle but we got those flying freaks a pool of their own blood to drown in," the Staff Sergeant indicated to the ramp in front of them that led to the parliament house and the charred turf on the building was strewn with Gordanian corpses and smouldering armoured vehicles.

"Is this all you guys have left, where's your LT?" asked John

"For our unit, yes our LT copped it during the retreat and we have a few other understrength units have formed a perimeter around the Gordanian territory. We got word from command that a couple of SAS will be moving in later, but they're busy up in Sydney right now."

"Alright, you guys stay here and patch yourselves up, my buddy here will go see what we can do about the parliament house," said John

"You got it, but if you need help, give us a call and we will give you a heads up when the SAS come in. Talk to out radio op so he knows how to contact you,"

Filling in the blanks, John and Fred headed forth. But instead of going up the ramp, the two opted to flank the large campus from the east by travelling on the road and hugging the wall. They entered onto the ground through the bushes and activated their optic camo.

Four Gordanian sentries stood on the roof tops of parliament house behind cover. Lest they wanted to be picked off by sharpshooters. The Spartans slowly climbed onto the rooftops by scaling the walls. Their plan was too enter the building via the rooftops over the House of Representatives.

"Fred, take the two on the right, I'll take the ones on the left,"

"Okay,"

The two silently moved into position, Fred had his FAR slung and his combat knives at the ready.

"Now," John whispered.

Fred plunged his blades deep into the two Gordanian necks from behind. The other two looked in astonishment and had barely a chance to react when their heads were swiftly clubbed the other way by John, breaking their jaw and neck.

The two Spartans carefully stepped over the massive fallen flagpole and stood over a courtyard. They slowly lowered themselves onto the level below by dangling off the ledge. John and Fred had shifted their weight onto the concrete sections and peered through the windows. Two Gordanians stood at the windows back turned to them. BIG mistake. In unison John and Fred's arm shot through the glass and smashed through the Gordanian spine, pulled them out of the windows and threw them onto the ground below. Because their spinal cords were damaged, they could not use their wings and plummeted to their deaths. They landed with a thud, showered by shards of broken glass. The two Spartans had finally entered the building, it was time to clean house.

Landing quietly into a foyer near the House of Representatives, the Spartans moved in. Creeping around, prowling and silent.

"Engage active camouflage," whispered John

"Activating,"

The two merged into thin air, unseen, and disappeared from sight. What showed any indication that they were there was the mild shimmering effect in the air, but that could easily go unnoticed.

"We got eight of them up ahead," Fred whispered

"Alright, same plan as before."

Three Gordanians were sitting at a bench under a portrait of the previous prime minister. The other five leaned against pillars, eating rations or chatting. One of them spoke something in their native tong. Half a second later, the Spartans' translation software kicked in.

"The humans are tough fighters I'll give them that, but they are weak. Yes we have suffered a few setbacks but some cities are in our hands,"

"What about the Justice League?"

"They will be overwhelmed by our forces,"

"But there are reports that the _Fleet of Bias Flame_ and one lone ship nearly destroyed the _Fleet of Noble Sacrifices_,"

"Maybe so, but our strength is overwhelming, eventually Earth will become our new home world,"

John slung his rifle and unsheathed two combat knives, Fred followed suit. The two moved themselves into position.

Fred standing behind a Gordanian officer, flanked by two soldiers, and John hovered over the Gordanians sitting on the bench.

"Throw him off,"

"You got it,"

In a quick moment, Fred's arm shot forward, wrapped around the officer's neck, and squeezed. The body went limp and he threw it over the balcony and onto the foyer bellow. The body landed on a sculpture and impaled itself on the spike. The Gordanians were still recovering from shock; Fred used this chance to strike again. In a slashing movement, Fred stretched his arms to his side, blades shoved deep into the necks of the Gordanians. He threw the two off the balcony; a squelching thud could be heard.

Right after Fred had thrown the three Gordanians off the second floor, John, punched through the three Gordanian heads. Their helmets shattered, brain and blood matter went everywhere. The Chief quickly retracted his arm, leaving ragged holes in the heads and threw his knives at the remaining two. They dropped like puppets.

"A bit messy," Fred smiled

"Well I'm still use to dealing with Brutes," said John as he tore a rag of a Gordanian and wiped the blood and brains off his arm.

They continued on, dealing with small patrols and staying hidden, the Gordanian garrison was starting to get jumpy as they lost more and more of their troops.

"Guys," said Cortana, "I'm tapping into their com system, those lizard freaks are getting edgy,"

"Nice to know," commented Fred

Much later, the two Spartans received their heads up from the radio operator.

"Spartans, umm, the SAS are moving in now, they're on the roofs and rappelling in,"

"Got it," said John

The link turned off, and the Spartans found themselves standing above another foyer. Below was a command centre.

"Time to knock it out," said Fred

"Wait," forbade John, "sensors show we got friendlies in bound,"

John's motion sensor swarmed with red and yellow dots.

"Okay now we go," said John

The ceiling exploded, showering the control room with debris as SAS soldiers rappelled in. The two Spartans readied their FAR and joined the fray, landing on the marble floor below with a thud.

The Gordanians were taken by complete surprise as they were cut down swiftly by the human forces.

"Two on your right," yelled John

Fred swivelled round and planted two shots between the first winged alien's head and three into the other's chest. The Gordanians slumped over the consoles, covering it in their blood.

John sprinted to the far side of the foyer and whacked a Gordanian officer into a wall, breaking his bones and smearing blood over the ornaments that hung there. The Chief turned around and took cover behind a pillar as a squad of Gordanians fired at him. They were quickly cut down by gunfire from the SAS.

John swept the room once more, all hostiles neutralised.

An SAS Captain jogged over to him.

"Thanks for clearing the way for us,"

"Anytime," replied John

"Well, you guys a free to go, we can take it from here and flush out any lizards hiding in the nearby suburbs,"

John and Fred gave a curt nod to the Captain, and strode out of parliament house through the entrance. They ran to the city centre to see if they could help out with anything. They stood at a square and watched a large number of civilians moved from one building, surveying the damage or looking for someone or something. Soldiers were running around trying to help as many as they could.

"Well that was incredible easy, looks like we'll have Australia cleaned up in a week or so,"

Outside was a horde of reporters, snapping photos, camera rolling and asking questions directed towards John.

"Where the hell do they even come from?" said Cortana, "I swear these guys are like Covie grunts. Pop up like sprouts, run at the first sign of trouble, well with some exceptions, then comeback when it's all over."

"I second that," said Fred over the comlink, "well John; it is your time to shine! I'm outta here before they start asking me questions,"

"Where do you think you're going?" said John as he placed a hand on Fred's shoulder

"Bailing," he replied

"Oh no you're not," said Cortana, "you're staying here," John joined in

"But I outrank you," Fred complained

"Yeah, but I'm defacto leader of the Spartans, so you're staying here,"

"Damn," muttered Fred

The reporters surrounded the two Spartans, and then the questions started to roll.

"Spartans, look this way!"

"Where are you from?"

"Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?"

"How many of you are there?"

John held up his hand to quiet the crowd.

Before any of he could answer, a loud crashing sound emanated from behind the Spartans. The reporters bailed and ran. They took cover behind cinder blocks and rolled the cameras as they were going to film what was to unfold.

Behind Fred and John stood a beast about twice their size, it looked like a Gordanian that had been mauled, its wings torn off, then brought back to life and given rippling muscles and what appeared to be, a very tough bio-shell or exoskeleton.

The alien roared as it picked up a fallen steel beam.

"Looks like I spoke a wee bit too soon," said Fred

A speaker on the beasts' back activated.

"Humans! This is our meta-Gordanian pet and the last of its kind, our attempts to recreate it has been futile since this pet is a crossbreed, its maternal species had died out long ago…"

"Well that's a relief," said Cortana sarcastically,

The speaker continued, "We want to watch it in action, have fun,"

"Well, I have finally come across something I don't want to piss of," said John,

"How about Gravemind?" said Cortana

"Okay, second thing,"

The two Spartans fired their FARs at the monstrosity, but had little effect, only a few chinks in the exoskeleton.

"Well that puts an end to that thought," said Cortana

"We didn't bring heavy weapons," yelled Fred

"Where is the Pelican?" asked John

"Thirty minutes out at full speed John," answered the AI

"We need to keep this thing busy," gritted Fred.

They slung their FARs and activated their dual energy swords. John took deep breath and sprinted full force with Fred in tow. The beast roared again, whipping its tail and swung the beam at his incoming adversaries. John ducked whilst Fred jumped high into the air. The two commandos slashed at the beam. One half clattered to the ground, with its end smouldering and glowing red.

John and Fred continued their charge.

"Concentrate your attacks at one spot," barked John

Fred lunged first; he hacked at the beast's chest with both of his blades. A small black scratch could be seen on the exoskeleton. Fred jumped into air and curled up bringing his knees to his chest. He aimed for the chest and kicked with both his legs. A loud cracking sound was heard as Fred propelled himself clear of the alien; it was now John's turn.

John charged in. He could see the exoskeleton had been cracked and dented like an egg shell. The Chief aimed for the part where Fred had attacked, and unleashed his attack on the same spot. He ducked and dodged the attacks of the beast, all the while slashing at the "wounds". John jumped clear, and Fred rushed in. The two Spartans alternated their attacks, all aimed at that small chink they made on the chest. After a while they had finally penetrated the tough biomass shell and reached the flesh. The beast could now feel the pain of the attacks.

He roared again, and lunged at the two Spartans. The super soldiers in turn, dived out of the way. The beast slammed into a pillar and roared. It turned around and charged; swinging the beam furiously at them. John and Fred ducked and feinted in different directions. Successfully evading the attacks each time, the beast became infuriated; its attacks became more aggressive which threw the Spartans off guard.

**XXxxXX**

About fifty metres away, civilians, reporters and soldiers looked on at the battle. The soldiers were afraid to shoot, for two reasons. They might end up hitting the Spartans instead of the alien, and two; they might prompt the beast to attack them and the civilians. All they could do was watch and hope for the best. Unsurprisingly, there were a number of renowned reporters at the scene. One of them was Angela Chen of the Metropolitan News Network with her crew. How they got there and why, not many knew.

"Keep that camera on them Will,"

Angela began her live coverage of the unfolding battle.

"Well Tom as you can see here, the two Spartans, namely Spartan-117 and Spartan-104 as it says or there chest plate, are currently in a battle with a Gordanian monster,"

"Could you tell us more about this Gordanian monster Angela?" asked the anchor-man

"Yes Tom, from what we have heard, the Gordanian monster is apparently a crossbreed of the Gordanian species and one that is extinct now. All attempts to recreate it have been futile according to the Gordanians. We can only hope that it is true,"

The Camera kept on rolling

**XXxxXX**

The unexpected soon occurred; John was two slow and was whacked by the beam into a pile of rubble. His shields took the brunt of the force but drained them completely. The alarm droned in his helmet, but it soon drowned out as darkness claimed him.

"JOHN!" yelled Fred

John was still okay, Fred could see that on the bio-monitors on his HUD. His old friend was unconscious and be out of the fight for a little while.

Right now, Fred had to concentrate on the matter at hand. He feinted right when the beast smashed the beam down into the ground next to him. The Spartan slashed at the beam, further reducing its length, but the swords energy cell was depleted. He attached the drained hilt to his thigh plate and lunged at the beast with his other energy sword. Fred slashed at the wound, burning through the flesh of the alien. He screamed in agony; however the blade had not pierced the skin. Fred attacked again, slashed it at his chest. Soon the blade's cell was depleted. Fred cursed for now he had to fight with his bare hands.

The grotesque alien renewed its attack. Fred jumped back; feint right and left, jumped high into the air and ducked the beast's attack. Yet he did not evade it for long. The hybrid warrior kicked Fred in the stomach, which sent the Spartan tumbling back into a tree and then a car. Fred coughed and tasted blood; he looked up to see the beast towering over him.

"Ah crap," muttered Fred.

The alien lifted its armed hand and smashed his steel beam into Fred.

Fred felt the impact; it hurt like hell, the force sent him flying across the square and into a fountain, his alarm blared as the shields were drained fully. The alien roared and stomped on Fred repeatedly. The ground beneath the superhuman cracked, as the beast continually smashed his steel beam into Fred. Each impact felt like he was going to lose consciousness, thankfully his armour protected him.

Again, the alien roared and continued its attack.

**XXxxXX**

Angela and many others watched in shock as they saw Spartan-117 smashed into a pile of rubble, while Spartan-104 was taking the beating of his life.

'I-it is h-hard to see what is happening, I don't know if we could watch this any longer," stammered Angela

That in part was quiet true, but she said it in that way to increase the value and mood of the story. Many onlookers gasped or recoiled every time Spartan-104 was brutally hit.

**XXxxXX**

"Chief! Wake up!" urged Cortana

John regained consciousness and blinked away the black dots that swarmed his vision. He checked his bio-monitors which showed he was a bit rattled but still in fighting condition. His armour showed no signs of serious damage and the shields were fully recharged. The Chief then proceeded to look at Fred's systems. He was taking one helluva beating.

John pushed the rubble off of him, and picked up his two energy blades. He activated the weapons and charged the alien before it could hit Fred again. John ran full force into the alien; a very loud crunching sound came from the alien as John shoulder charged him. The beast stumbled back and dropped the beam. John sent a fury of slashes at the alien's chest. But the blades shut down because their batteries were depleted. John cursed and began to punch and kick the beast. He moved himself so he could attack the beast's chest and hopefully widen the wound.

John continually hit the shell layer at the chest, eventually it was so damaged that the Spartan was able to rip it off, exposing a large area of skin, and a line of burnt flesh. Now was his chance, he tackled the alien once more and detonated his napalm grenades. John and the beast were consumed in a fireball. The hybrid screamed in agony as the napalm burned through or incinerated his flesh. After recovering from his initial shock, the beast punched John, which sent the Spartan flying back.

Fred winced at the pain which ravaged his chest. He saw John thrown backwards with his front covered in napalm. Fred turned his gaze towards the Gordanian monstrosity, the hybrid's front was doused in napalm. He was screaming from the intense pain from the heat which caused his flesh to burn. The Spartan tensed his fingers and picked up a jagged led pipe and charged forth at the beast.

The Hybrid had little time to react before a lead pipe was shoved through his wound.

The pipe didn't go through, but it brought Fred some time, which then like John, detonated his napalm grenade. Hybrid once again was doused in napalm, he opened his mouth but no sound came out this time. His vocal cords had been damaged by the heat and the wound on his chest was filled with the burning chemical which sent the beast overboard.

John moved up next to Fred, when they heard a familiar sound, the sound of a Pelican Dropship's engine.

"Ram him Cortana," said John

Cortana remote piloted the dropship and moved it into position. It swooped in guns blazing, bullets and rockets tearing at the Hybrid. The massive being stumbled back until finally the dropship slammed into him. The sheer force drove back the beast into a building, smashing everything in their path. Eventually the dropship came to a grinding halt, but the hybrid was nowhere near defeated. He rose from the wreckage and charged the Spartans.

John and Fred jumped out of the way, they noticed the recent hit the hybrid took, had torn away a large chunk of its biomass shell. The two Spartans unslung their FARs, aimed for the exposed flesh and fired.

The beast winced in agony as its flesh burned.

"Dammit, nothing is going to take this thing down," cursed Fred

"How much C12 do you have on you?" asked John

"Uhh, about an eight by eight by eight cube,"

"Same here,"

"Okay, Chief what you're thinking is well and truly crazy," said Cortana

"Rush it!" yelled John

The two Spartans sprinted forward, and dodged the hybrid's attack. John leapt into the air and jumped onto the massive being's shoulder.

"Eat this," he yelled as he shoved his cube of C12 down the beast's throat.

Fred on the other hand, planted his cube of C12 in the hybrid's chest. The two pushed themselves clear of the hybrid as the alien thrashed around and picked up another steel beam. The beast charged John with rage.

"Detonate!" yelled John; they weren't even at minimal safe distance but Fred still complied.

A blinding white explosion engulfed the hybrid and threw Fred and John clear of the square. John landed into a foyer of the shopping centre nearby. As Fred landed on top of a car, and crushing the vehicle. The two struggled to stand back up; streaks of black covered their armour plates, while smoke curled up from the streaks.

The two Spartans breathed heavily looking at what was left of their fallen foe… which was absolutely nothing. The hybrid had been blown to pieces when the C12s were detonated.

"Clean up time," muttered Fred

Once again, they were surrounded by reporters wanting to get the latest scoop.

**XXxxXX**

Keyes sat at the captain's chair on the bridge of _Majestic_ with a cup of coffee in hand. It had been a few days now and the Gordanian navy hadn't reared their ugly heads in. All was quiet, and that was what concerned Miranda.

"Thom," she called.

"Yes Commander?" the AI appeared on the projector as a young museum curator

"What do the scans show?"

"Small Gordanian resistances are appearing all over Earth, but massive concentrations are appearing over Greece,"

"Why Greece?" asked Mendez.

"An easy foothold maybe," suggested Halsey.

"Well if that many Lizard freaks are going to Greece, the place is going to be one helluva tough shell," commented Mendez.

**XXxxXX**

"Spartans!' called out Angela Chen

"Yes ma'am?" said Fred

"You people seem to be newcomers, so where are you from,"

John looked at Fred, and Fred looked at John.

"Should we answer this?" asked Fred over their private link.

"Make something up," said Cortana

John cleared his throat and addressed the crowd.

"Once the war is over, there will obviously be a conference of world leaders. There we will answer your questions," said John

"You know you're delaying the inevitable right?" said Cortina smugly

"They can wait,"

An Albatross was piloted in by Cortana, to pick up the two Spartans and the burning Pelican. John decided to catch some more shut eye.

Canberra was now free of Gordanian forces, next up for cleansing was Sydney.

**XXxxXX**

Miranda cursed as hundreds of thousands of Gordanian ships appeared in front of _Majestic_,which was currently in geo-synched orbit over Greece and the Watchtower was on the other side of the planet.

Space Sentry network showed that the Gordanians were only in this area. They were gearing up for a concentrated attack.

"Thom, deploy fighters and have sentinels on standby," ordered Miranda

"Command confirmed Commander," said the AI

**(A/N: Three C words, oh yeah!)**

"Give me manual control over _Majestic_,"

"Done,"

Miranda pulled away from orbit, decloaked and charged. _Majestic _surged forward into the Gordanian Armada.

"Beam weapons online," said Thom

"Hit their warships and super-cruisers with the beam canon. Target smaller vessels with pulse lasers and engage the destroyers with pulse beams,"

"Command confirmed,"

_Majestic_ shifted right and dived, then pulled out. Two heavy Gordanian warships vectored the Dreadnought, only to be riddled by pulse lasers and beams. The pulse lasers slashed at the enemy warships with devastating effect, burning through the armour to send the ships derelict. Pulse beams lashed out like angry red snakes at the cruisers; the projectiles arced into the vessels, piecing the armour and exploding, sending debris and Gordanian soldiers into the abyss.

One Gordanian Super-carrierr was unlucky enough to enter the sights of _Majestic's _main beam canon. A brilliant blue beam streaked from _Majestic_ towards the super-carrier, the vessel exploded into two halves which drifted into other ships further wreaking havoc on the armada.

"Targeting systems are being overwhelmed Commander, I can't target them all," said Thom

"Do as best as you can to send those bastards to hell," hissed Miranda

The Forerunner Dreadnought flew straight into the armada, all guns blazing.

"Ready the Archer missile pods,"

"Archer missile pods online,"

Hundreds of white trails exited the ship, streaking towards their intended target. Some were shot from defensive systems, but the numbers were overwhelming. Three Gordanian ships' hulls were blasted into oblivion. The explosive decompression sent the vessels tumbling into their allies.

**XXxxXX**

The Commander of the Gordanians was stuck in a rut. If he concentrated his force, then the chances of him destroying that accursed ship would increase, but so would his casualties. The tumbling derelict ships were proving to be difficult. However if he was to have his armada in loose formation; his ships would be picked off one by one.

No he will not fail his objective due to one ship. He ordered his ships to land on Earth immediately. If he engaged the enemy ship head on, his entire armada would suffer heavy casualties. But by swarming over the ship to his target, Gordanian casualties would be significantly less.

**XXxxXX**

"What the hell are they doing?" pondered Mendez as he saw the horde of Gordanians rush to Earth, specifically Greece where all the other freaks were.

"They're going to leg it so casualties won't be high," said Halsey

"Their Commander is one heartless, but smart bastard," said Mendez

_Majestic_, turned around and continued to target and shoot the Gordanians, tens of enemy ships became disabled as the Forerunner weapons burned through their armour and blasted the engines. The enemy vessels were helpless to save themselves from Earth's gravity. Some burned up in the atmosphere because their hull was breached; the larger vessels' occupants were incinerated for the same reasons. But the husks did make it through as some splashed into the Mediterranean, and others smashed onto land. Miranda positioned _Majestic _for another strafing run on the armada.

The Longswords also had their fair share in the action. Controlled by basic AIs, they wreaked hell on the Gordanian space/naval forces. The fighters' weapons devastated small vessels and enemy fighters alike. They swooped in and out, and around the opposing ships, targeting the engines or hangar bays. The main objective was just to cripple a ship to put it out of action. Destroying it would be a waste of resources, a rule that Miranda learnt in naval warfare.

As Keyes looked out of the viewport-monitor, she saw numerous of small explosions caused by the Longswords, her small force was giving the Gordanians hell. So far, _Majestic_ was in top condition, although riddled with black streaks from enemy fire, the enemy had not yet drained the ship's shields let alone burn through the tough armour. Still, the battle scars gave _Majestic_ a fearsome edge.

"Thom, how many Shiva warheads do we have with the Longswords?" asked Miranda

"Three Shiva warheads are at the ready Commander," replied the AI

"Good, arm the nukes, set timer for ten minutes, and deploy them, then bring back the Longswords,"

"Command confirmed,"

**XXxxXX**

Diana and Shayera sat in the Watchtower, on edge and impatient to get back to the war. The Longswords that protected the Watchtower had left. _Whoever these Spartans are, they must have access to great resources_ thought the Amazon.

Shayera on the other hand pace around the founding member's private common room, batting her hand with her mace.

"I want to get back to the fight," the Thanagarian growled

"Bruce and Clark insisted that we get rest," said Diana

"I'll get rest when the war is over,"

"Think about it, we haven't slept a full five hours since the war broke out; Bruce insisted that you and I rest,"

Shayera nodded her head in compliance.

"You and Bruce seemed to be getting close to each other now," grinned Shayera

"What do you mean?" Diana lied; w_ell at least this will keep her mind off the war._

"Oh c'mon…" The heroine was interrupted by Mr Terrific

"Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, we have a situation developing over Europe, specifically Greece,"

_Hera…_

"We're on our way," replied Shayera.

In the control room stood a number of other heroes, their eyes fixated onto the overhead monitor. Diana could see why, a massive Gordanian armada was taking one helluva beating from a gigantic ship, with the words _UNSC Majestic_ inscribed on its hull. It had a trigonometric shape layout.

"The vessel we're looking at is 11.41 kilometres in length, 13.18 kilometres in width and 14 kilometres in height/depth," said Mr Terrific

"It's that far away?" said Shayera gobsmacked

"How did we not see this?" asked Vigilante

"Gordanian stealth technology, obviously," said Mr Terrific, "but they didn't get too far with _Majestic_ in the area,"

_Majestic _dwarfed so many Gordanian ships, except for the supercarriers and flagships which were about about one tenth to half of the ships size. But no matter the size, hundreds if not thousands were laid to waste by _Majestic_.

"I think it is safe to say that those people are with the Spartans," said Supergirl.

The Watchtower's camera zoomed in closer, which then revealed squadrons of Longswords flying around, firing their payload and giving the invaders hell. Red and orange streaks emanated over the Earth's surface, it was obvious that the derelict vessels were burning in the planet's atmosphere. While other unscathed ships were trying to break past the huge vessel and land on Earth in one piece, it was clear that the Leaguers knew that the Gordanians would suffer very high casualties should they continue to take on _Majestic_.

Three brilliant flashes shone through the abyss of space. The Leaguers instinctively covered their eyes. Once the flash had dissipated, they saw three fireballs, and a field of debris. _Majestic _and the squadrons of Longswords were at a safe distance when the warheads went off, and continued to spell hell.

"My god," whispered Shayera upon witnessing the carnage

"I'm going to hail _Majestic_," said Mr Terrific.

He switched to an open frequency, and spoke into the microphone.

"_Majestic_ this is the Watchtower, and speaking is Mr Terrific, please respond,"

The link crackled, and then a female voice replied.

"_Majestic_ to Watchtower, this is UNSC Commander Miranda Keyes, go ahead, over."

"Would you like some help?"

"That we would be great Watchtower,"

About fifty Javelins were dispatched after that message.

During the battle which had turned into a slaughter for the Gordanians, Diana, with Shayera as her co-pilot passed _Majestic_ and flew along its bow. Upon inspection, the matte grey hull was brimming with turrets, missile pods and guns. The Amazon had a hard time flying through the field of broken ships and fighters, all the while targeting enemy vessels, but _Majestic _didn't have that problem, it simply sailed through the debris as if they were nothing more than falling leaves. Although the larger chunks of ships were blasted down to size before _Majestic _continued its course, lest they wanted to suffer damages. Throughout the battle, _Majestic_ and the intimidating Longswords flew around the field with great speed and agility, something Diana thought the vessels did not possess considering their size.

After the battle, Diana flew along _Majestic's _bow once more; the matte grey hull was covered in black streaks and was devoid of weapons. It was apparent that the vessel had retracted its armaments back in.

Longswords flew back to the hangar bay of _Majestic's_ while the Leaguers returned to the Watchtower.

"Thanks for the assist Watchtower," said Miranda

Diana watched as a blue portal open in front of _Majestic_, the huge vessel flew threw and disappeared.

**XXxxXX**

Of course the Leaguers weren't the only ones to see this. The men and women stationed on the International Space Station that was passing by saw the battle too.

"ISS control, this is Houston, Sky Sentry is detecting massive movements. You should be within in sight of it in five minutes, cresting over the bright side of Earth above Europe."

"Copy that," the operator contacted an astronaut doing a spacewalk, "Sat4, Houston wants to see something through your camera, cresting over Europe,"

"Copy ISS," said Sat4

Moments later, an epic space born battle came into view. The Watchtower was in sight, and so was a massive trigonometric shape vessel, together they battled an overwhelming Gordanian armada.

"Oh my god," breathed Sat4

"Houston, this is ISS control, uh are you getting this?"

"Copy that, stand by,"

Elsewhere in a Cadmus facility….

Amanda Waller sat at her desk, the technology in possession of the Spartans was such a prize that she wanted to get her hands on it. Such technology would help counter the League should they go rogue.

She called in many experts to evaluate the Spartans. They all came up with the same answer; the Spartans were military trained. Searching through Government files, Amanda could not find anything that was remotely related to the Spartans.

She had hundreds of teams to try and track down the Spartans but no such luck so far. Her thoughts were interrupted when a man in his late fifties came into her office.

"There's something you should see Amanda,"

He picked up the remote and turned on the TV screen.

"This is currently live from Sat4 on ISS,"

"My God,"

Thousands of derelict ships floated through the field; there was the Watchtower and its fleet of Javelins, same old same old. But what did catch her attention was the gigantic ship with the _UNSC Majestic_ inscribed into its hull, which was wreaking havoc on the Gordanian armada alongside with the Longswords.

Waller had seen the Longswords before, during the battle of Metropolis, a small detachment of them flew through the city.

"Any word about the Spartans yet?" Waller asked,

"Our teams have come up with nothing so far, these Spartans just simply vanish after battle,"

"I know, did you see the battle with one-one-seven and one-oh-four between that freaks of an alien?"

"Yes, our experts say that the Spartans are not normal humans, because no normal body would have been able to hold against such stresses from the feats that they perform," the old man said,

"And those feats would be?"

"From the reports of our men in the field, they clocked one Spartan sprinting over one hundred kilometres per hour, another was seen hurling a car at long distances, and there were some sketchy reports about these ones but the Spartans seem to have personal energy shielding,"

"So what now?"

"There's only one thing we can do, wait till the war is over. One-one-seven did mention to the media that he and the Spartans will answer our questions,"

"Really?" Amada said with a growl and a sarcastic tone, "that's the best you people can come up with?"

"Amanda, you can't expect us to grow superb quality apples if we don't have water," the old man said sternly

"Fine, but I want an hourly report, we need these Spartans,"

**XXxxXX**

The founding members sat in a meeting room, discussing about the Spartans. Batman was stumped and absolutely frustrated with his lack of progress.

"I know this question has been asked hundreds of times, but who are these people?" said Wally

"Could they be trusted?" asked Stewart

"Even if they could be trusted, what would happen when Cadmus or Luthor finds out about the Spartan's level of technology?" pondered J'onn

"You know they will answer all of our questions later," added Wally

"And when will that be?" snapped Stewart, "These people have the means to lay waste to Earth; you saw the footage that Diana and Shayera collected. That ship destroyed hundreds, if not thousands of Gordanian vessels before the Watchtower came,"

"We're going to have to leave this discussion for another time," said Bruce, "we're needed in Greece, Queen Hippolyta just called, "she's asking if we need any help from her,"

"Say yes," said Diana

"As you wish Princess,"

**XXxxXX**

The war had raged on for many weeks now, and the tide of war swung in humanity's favour. The Gordanians had suffered many crushing defeats, their grip in the southern hemisphere was now gone. The commanders of the Gordanians had pulled their forces to Greece and other countries surrounding the Mediterranean.

Both factions continued to slog it out. High hopes were in abundance in the human forces, but they were near shattered when they saw an entire armada of Gordanian ships appeared over Greece. Cruisers, super-carriers, warships, frigates, freighters, destroyers and ground forces descend over the country. Resistances from human forces were instantly crushed by the overwhelming Gordanian numbers.

It was obvious that the Commander in Chief of the Gordanians was either replaced by another or changed his tactics. Which was to concentrate his forces in one area and spread outwards, this proved to be difficult for the world forces as their foe stood united and dug in. Firing ICBMs at the Gordanians proved to be useless as they had anti-missile emplacements deployed; it was time to do things the hard way.

**XXxxXX**

In the Kalahari Desert, Africa

Across the arid noon lands, a battle raged. Gunfire and explosions drowned out the sound of screaming men.

The going in the desert was tough, what was left of their armoured support was a detachment of heavily damaged Humvees, Bradleys and Abrams, but there was word that an armoured column of Strykers and Leopard II tanks were inbound. The Gordanian supply base's defences were proving to be a bloody obstacle.

"INCOMING!" yelled Johnson as he dived into a crater for cover.

Kelly looked skyward to see a Gordanian Gunship charge up its weapons.

"Vixen! Get the hell outta there!" Barked the Spartan

Kelly sprinted towards the heroine, grabbed her and pulled her away from the sinkhole. Seconds later, that very same sink hole became a smouldering crater. Shrapnel and dirt peppered Johnson's ODST BDU visor and chest plate; _that was too close for comfort_ he thought.

"Thanks," said Mari

"Don't mention it," breathed Kelly

She rolled out of her cover, and shouldered her missile launcher. She waited for the weapon to have a lock on the gunship. Her HUD confirmed a lock and she fired both missiles. Two plumes of smoke streaked towards the gunship, blasting away its engines and armour plates. The craft careened to its left and plummeted into the dried up riverbed nearby, it exploded and showered the field with light shrapnel and dirt.

"C'mon greenhorns, pile it on the lizard freaks," yelled Johnson as he aimed his battle rifled and fired into a Gordanian lieutenant.

He leapt from cover and ran across the charred ground. Platoons of soldiers followed in behind him, moving from cover to cover. The compound's entrance lay only fifty metres ahead of them.

"Oh man, we gotta go through that?" said a Corporal, looking at the base's overwhelming defences.

He ducked behind cover as Gordanians opened fire at him.

"Predator UAVs are at the FARP, any ideas?"

**(A/N: FARP stands for Forward Arm and Refuel Point)**

"I got one, corp," said Johnson

Avery pulled out a tacpad from his pack; there he had control over a UNSC F-99 Osprey UAV Drone, circling up ahead. He switched to the ASGM-10 missiles, selected his target, which was the base's entrance and fired.

A white streak shot down into the gate, creating a massive column of smoke and dust, sending debris everywhere.

"We're in business," remarked Johnson

The assault team advanced into the supply base unchallenged. The mop up was swift, and the task force moved onto their next objective; liberating an enemy prisoner camp.

**XXxxXX**

The march to the camp was tiring, after a quick breather the next phase of the assault began. With the aid of a fresh armoured columns and Predator drones, clearing the camp was not a difficult task. The Strykers cut down the Gordanian infantry in a matter of seconds with its heavy machine gun, Bradleys chipped away at lightly armoured vehicles and the heavy tanks just blasted away the enemy fortifications into nothingness.

Kelly and Mari using her amulet in Cheetah mode sprinted into the base. Kelly was impressed by the heroine's martial arts prowess, who had just clobbered a group of Gordanian melee infantry.

Vixen glanced in the Spartan's direction to see that 087 swiftly aim and fire the weapon with superb accuracy, then watched with great awe as she witnessed 087 with one punch, ripped through a Gordanian's chest and into another's head. She retracted her blood and flesh covered arm, unsheathed a combat knife and hurled it into the forehead of a Gordanian lieutenant.

_Damn that's impressive_ thought Vixen _and messy._

Johnson and a platoon followed the Sergeant Major into the camp. The sweep was quick and fast as they travelled along the Gordanian made pathways. Arriving at the command and control post, the soldiers stacked up on the left of the backdoor. Kelly and Johnson slapped in a fresh magazine into their weapons.

"Okay Spartan, you're up," said Johnson through the helmet's speakers so everyone can hear.

"Got it,"

Kelly leaned against the wall, prepped a flashbang grenade and eased the door slightly opened. She quickly tossed in the flashbang and shut the door. A few seconds later, boom the Spartan-I and Spartan-II rushed into the room.

Kelly moved forward and planted three shots into a Gordanian Captain's head. She shifted right and shot a private at the console between the eyes, the alien keyboard was covered in blood and brain matter as the private slumped over the controls, with smoke curling up from the wounds.

As soon as Kelly had entered the room, Johnson followed in and hanged left, he shot a Gordanian soldier about to charge with a mace in the chess. The enemy combatant fell a few feet short of the old veteran. Avery then moved three steps forward and turned right. He shot a couple of soldiers at the console and two more that were hiding behind a desk.

Once the room was cleared, Johnson motioned Kelly to clear out the next room. The Spartan-II understood what the hand signals meant; three red blobs appeared on her motion sensors. She slung her FAR and shouldered her shotgun. She moved up to another door, weapons at the ready. Kelly placed a frame charge on the door, and was rewarded with an eardrum splitting explosion as the door blasted into nothingness. The Spartan charged through the smoke and saw a Gordanian with a shocked face being flung back like a ragdoll from the blast. She aimed her shotgun right and fired at an enemy Captain, the officer fell back as the gauges tore through his chest and tore off his left wing. The Spartan then turned left, fired and pumped the shotgun. The Gordanian private didn't even react when his head was blown off by the firepower of the shotgun, he simply crumbled into a heap, and the wall behind him was riddled with bullet marks and smeared with brain and blood.

Standing in the middle of the room, and hidden from the Spartan's attacks was a Gordanian Major, he revealed himself whilst wielding two battle axes.

"I will kill you human," he said in perfect English.

The Major charged at Kelly and swung ferociously at her, but to the Spartan the Major moved in slow motion. She dodged and blocked the attacks with relative ease. The bouts continued on for a few more seconds when an opening presented itself for Kelly. The Spartan swung her shotgun at the Major, smashing the butt into his jaw, and with a free hand she broke his wrist and disarmed his other hand. The Major slumped to his knees holding his broken wrist and gave a ragged breathing sound.

"We need you alive," said Kelly

She grabbed the Major by his collar and dragged him into the control room where Johnson and Vixen were waiting, by this time; a squad of human soldiers had entered and secured the control room.

"Nice work Spartan," nodded Johnson

"Shit that was amazing!" said Vixen with awe; she remembered what Batman and Superman said about the Spartans and made sure her camera was recording. Every encounter with the Spartans must be recorded so it can be analysed later.

"Thanks," Kelly said.

With the command and control centre secure and a perimeter formed, Kelly began downloading information from the system's mainframe and onto a data crystal.

_Woah, Bats would love to get his hands on tech like that,_ thought Mari upon seeing the data crystal.

With that done, the trio left the building and joined in with the mop up of the prison camp, outside the building was a make shift landing zone for helicopters as they dropped in reinforcements and ferried out the wounded.

The mop-up was fairly quick as only few stragglers remained, Kelly, Johnson and Vixen were walking down a path when a young corporal with a terrified look on his face came running over to them.

"Sir, it… Oh… God… it's," he stuttered

"Calm down Corp," said Kelly

"Collect your thoughts then speak," said Avery with a soft tone

The corporal took in a deep breath and said, "it's horrible sir, you have to look at the cells, mostly civvies inside, oh god,"

Moving towards the holding cells, they knew why the corporal was in shock. In the cells were beaten and mutilated humans, most dead, other's barely holding onto life.

"Shit," cursed Avery

**XXxxXX**

Across the wastelands of what was Chicago, a desperate battle was waged by the human forces upon the Gordanians. Linda sat perched up on a billboard providing the retreating forces invaluable time, whilst Ash stood at the bridge head bellow wielding a minigun, supressing any Gordanian light forces that came. Agent King Faraday and his men wearing digital camo Kevlar suits, took cover behind the wreckage of what use to be a Stryker APC, and fought the Gordanians.

"We got to buy the civvies more time," Agent Faraday gasped

He reloaded his assault rifle and continued to fire.

"How much more time do you need?" yelled Ash

"As much as you can," came the reply

A light Gordanian assault force advanced on the highway bridgehead and opened fire on the human defenders. Ash directed his attention towards them and fired a quick burst in their direction. Three enemy soldiers shock violently as the rounds ripped through their bodies and the others scurried for cover.

"Ranger Chalk-Five say they're on their way but encountering heavy resistance," said one of Faraday's men, "they've lost their Humvees and moving here on foot,"

"Well tell them to haul it or we won't be here when they arrive," said Faraday

Pockets of fierce resistance were put up over the city, but one by one, they were crushed by the Gordanians. The afternoon sky was plagued with burning aircrafts, sporadic anti-air fire and columns of black smoke. By the summer's evening, an understrength detachment of armoured vehicles and a battalion of soldiers rallied at the bridge head. They were the remanents of the human forces in Chicago.

Faraday prepared the soldiers for a final stand.

"Where's your CO?" he asked

"He got shot on our retreat sir," replied the Captain

Faraday nodded.

"I want the Bradleys and Strykers to form a line along the beach head. The remaining three Abrams, I want you guys to move in a wedge formation in the centre of the line."

The three Abrams, four Bradleys and five Strykers moved into position.

"Infantry, take up defensive positions,"

Faraday then switched on his com to contact Green Arrow.

"Green Arrow, how far out are you guys?"

Sporadic gunfire and explosions sounded over the link.

"Black Canary and I have found a couple of mortar teams, we're moving through the CBD and we'll reach your position in about twenty minutes,"

"Copy that,"

What followed was a long quiet wait. Linda moved herself down to the ground, because when the battle is underway, it tends to be the high grounds that are blown to bits. Ash stood next her, tense, edgy and at the ready.

"Ma'am, you think the Chief's going to come?" said Ash over the Spartan's private channel.

"Ash, how many times do I need to say it, just call me Linda, there's no need for formalities among Spartans, especially what we've been through,"

"Sorry ma'a.." Ash corrected himself, "Linda,"

Linda smiled at the young Spartan

"I don't think he can, but we'll manage,"

The wait continued…

**XXxxXX**

Linda glanced down at her motion sensor; it showed great concentrations of yellow blips, which meant Green Arrow had arrived.

The mortar teams set up their positions on the bridge, Green Arrow and Black Canary stood at the barricade, surveying the area. By looking at their expressions, Linda could see that they had the looks of rookie marines that had been through hell and back. They obviously haven't seen the full extent of war.

"I just got off the horn Spartan, three Humming Birds and one Cobra chopper are heading this way with eight Rangers and supplies," said Faraday

"Good, now we wait," said Linda

**XXxxXX**

Oliver or right now Green Arrow, couldn't help but notice the two armoured figures wielding advanced weaponry, one held a sniper rifle which looked and the other an assault rifle.

The hero felt tired, days of fighting and the horrors of war had really pushed him to his limits both physically and mentally, but it wasn't over yet. He paced around the bridgehead impatiently, and saw the many wounded being tended to by medics. Some were shaking uncontrollably and speaking incoherently, while others lay still.

"You all right?"

It was Black Canary

"Yeah, I'm fine I think, you?"

"I dunno, I feel kinda out of place here,"

"I know what you mean, war isn't my forte either," sighed Oliver.

They heard a sound of a soldier sprinting towards them.

"Ice!" said the soldier yelling the challenge.

"Everest!" the runner said as a counter sign.

Faraday jogged over to runner who was catching his breath.

"What do you got for us?"

"We have at least battalion strength Gordanian forces moving this way, and a column of light armour," the soldier gasped, "they're about a klick out,"

Faraday nodded.

"Alright people, those lizard freaks are coming this way, let's give them hell!"

With a quick weapons check, all the soldiers were in position. Black Canary would be on standby in case any Gordanians were to come in close and engage them in melee.

The Gordanians came into view and opened fire. Sounds of bullet impacts, explosions, gunfire and screaming men soon filled the air.

"Return fire!" yelled Faraday

The Gordanians spread out and took cover behind the overturn vehicles near the bridgehead.

"Stay in place everybody,"

The human armoured vehicles fired upon the Gordanians, sending bodies and masonry in all directions. Green Arrow continuously fed arrows into his bow and released, all of them finding their marks in Gordanian flesh.

"Shift your fire right team two."

A section peeled off and fired towards the flanking Gordanian force.

Black Canary every so often jumped up from cover and fired a sonic screech at the oncoming force, depriving them of cover and possibly their eardrums.

**XXxxXX**

Linda stood her ground, firing her sniper rifle and slapping in a fresh clip after a mag was expended. The Gordanians were easy pickings as some would try to fly over the human fortifications and land behind them. Thing was, they weren't as agile as Covenant drones which made them easy pickings for the sharpshooter.

She aimed down the scope again and fired, the round tore off a Gordanian officer's head, sending the body to crumble in a heap on the road. After about fifty or so kills, Linda ran out of ammunition for her sniper rifle and had to double back to the mortar crews who were taking a heavy toll on the enemy forces with their white phosphorus shells. She slung her sniper rifle and picked up the BR55 SR she'd hid from view, and returned back to the barricade.

The battle rifle barked and the muzzle flashed as she pulled the trigger, shredding the heads of Gordanians who dared exit their cover.

"Tank, fifty metres north of our position," yelled Ash, "I got this one,"

The young Spartan-III shouldered a rocket launcher, aimed and pulled the trigger. The rocket exited from the tube and streaked towards the tank, leaving behind a plume of white smoke in its wake. The projectile slammed into the tank's turret, right under the canon, blasting the thing clean away from the main hull.

"Tank neutralised," Ash whispered.

"WOO! GET SOME!" cheered the soldiers.

The long fire fight continued into the night, with many fallen to the battle. Eventually it was over, with the humans as the victors in the small fight. The forces retreated across the bridge and sunk it below sea level, and waited for reinforcements.

**XXxxXX**

A number of Leaguers and the Spartans assembled at a city hall at London, Diana sat next to Bruce and observed the Spartans. It was obvious to the Amazon that the Spartans had been through something similar to the Gordanian invasion, maybe worse. They seemed to be un-phased by the loss of their comrades and the destruction of many. It made her all the more curious as to who they were.

Their armour was greatly burnt and scarred, but the way they held themselves, it gave an aurora of hope.

"Good to see everyone could make it," said Superman, "we have suffered casualties during the course of this war, as you know the majority of Gordanian forces are holed up in Greece. Intelligence agencies have pinpointed their HQ, that's where most of us will be going. The rest are going to liaison with military units to mount an offensive on the Gordanian lines, we hope to string them out with this allowing us to effectively wipe out their HQ."

"Where exactly is their HQ supes?" asked Green Arrow

"Near the southern tip of the nation, we'll be launching amphibious and airborne assaults," replied the man of steel.

He turned his attention towards the Spartans.

"Do you have anything to add one-one-seven?"

"No, we're good to go,"

**XXxxXX**


	4. Deliver Hope

**A/N: You guys do remember the "FAR" right, if not the its short for Forerunner Assault Rifle, matte grey colour version of the Covenant Carbine, automatic and fires blue beams instead of the green case-less radioactive rounds.**

**Deliver Hope**

Diana felt heartbroken when she landed at Greece. Its luscious green plains were now ash, the rivers ran red with blood and the sky was of soot.

"Are you okay Diana?" said Shayera as she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"So many have suffered in this war,"

The Javelin touched down at an allied firebase at a beach billowing up sand and dirt. The heroes onboard, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl and Flash were part of the task force to search and destroy the Gordanian HQ. While the other Leaguers mount an offensive along the Gordanian lines to draw away the invaders.

"Looks like we'll be working with the Spartans again," Flash indicated

Across the airfield stood a Pelican dropship, standing around them were the Spartans.

"Good to see you again," said the Spartan with 087 on her chest plate

"You too," replied the Spartan

"So what do we have so far?" asked Shayera

117 spoke.

"To answer your question Hawkgirl, the Gordanians have taken a large number of civilians prisoners. So we can't bombard them, we have to assault their HQ, eliminate their leaders which will leave their forces in disarray and then free the prisoners."

"Sounds like a plan," said Shayera

Several hours later the soldiers mobilized and prepared to assault the Gordanian lines.

**XXxxXX**

"Chief," said Cortana, "I'm patching a message through from the Commander, we're getting a special delivery,"

Three Albatross carriers descended; dropping off their cargo on the tarmac in front of the Spartans, were the Juggernaut tanks.

These main battle tanks had the six treads layout like the Rhino tank, dual Forerunner beam canons with missile pods on the side of the turret and a MAC gun to fire specialised ammunitions. Its colour theme is a simple matte grey. These vehicles truly looked menacing.

"I call dibs!" said Kelly

"I'll pass," send Linda cradling her sniper rifle

"I second that," added Mark

After a short debate, it was John, Fred and Kelly who were going to be the ones driving the Juggernauts.

"I can get use to this," chuckled Kelly as she tested the tank's system.

"Alright, let's see what this baby can do," said Fred, "oh sweet! It has energy shielding,"

"Form up in wedge formation and move out," John ordered.

Johnson decided to ride shotgun in the Pelican to provide close air support, while the other remaining Spartans hitched a ride on the Juggernauts. Some sitting in the chain-gun seat which was perched on top of the turret and the others sat above the treads.

The Spartans rallied with the assault force that was to eliminate the Gordanian HQ at a field. Three regiments of allied soldiers and two close air support squadrons were the mainstay of the task force.

The Brigadier stood at the centre and briefed the men.

"Okay people, listen up. 103rd regiment, I want you guys once we've broken through the front lines to flank to the west and secure the POW camp, get those civvies back to safety, and then hit the Gordanians from the west. 105th regiment are to flank to the east and swing round to hit the HQ from the east. 89th regiment are to have a full frontal assault on the HQ, the Spartans and the three Leaguers will be spearheading the assault. Any questions?"

A hand of a Captain was raised.

"Yes Captain,"

"What do we have in terms of fire support, sir?"

"Heavy Artillery, two squadrons of close air support choppers and numerous fighter jet sorties, any other questions?"

No one else had anything to add.

"Alright, move out people."

**XXxxXX**

Once the heavy artillery barrage had softened up the Gordanians, the assault began. Armoured vehicles acted as shields for the infantry as the human forces burned through the invader's lines. Flash threw himself into the fray and created a "smoke" screen to confuse the Gordanians, then Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman flew in from above smashing through the enemy ranks.

After removing a fortification, the heroes looked at the Spartans in their tanks. The massive armoured vehicles pummelled through the Gordanians, blasting them to smithereens or simply rolling over lesser armour.

"Wow, that's impressive," complimented Flash

"Heads up guys, enemy reinforcements inbound," said Shayera

"I call dibs!" yelled Flash

The Speedster shot off into the enemy forces throwing punches and slamming into them to knock them out. He then ran onto a Gordanian tank, opened the hatch and jumped in. He emerged a few seconds later, carrying the unconscious crew.

"Nice," said Shayera

"We have the airborne inbound," warned Diana

Around twenty Gordanians flew towards the heroes, firing their rifles or readying their melee weapons. Diana stood her ground and blocked the shots, while Flash ran around goading them into hitting him, and of course they failed to hit the Speedster.

"Distract them," yelled Shayera

The Thanagarian, took flight and curved around the attacking force. She flew into the formation swinging her mace with precision, smashing Gordanian skulls or parrying their attacks. The airborne soldiers concentrated on their new foe, which allowed Diana an opening. The Amazon flew into the horde and grabbed the soldiers, hurling them into one another. One by one, they plummeted to earth.

Once the small skirmish was finished, the enemy soldiers lay on the charred lands.

"Phew, that was healthy," breathed Shayera

A large shell flew over the heroes and detonated, sending the heroes careening back.

"What the?" coughed Flash

He turned his head right to see two Gordanian tank barrels and a lance of soldiers aiming at him.

"Oooohhhh crap," the Speedster muttered

He tried to move, but his muscles were aching and wouldn't budge.

"Well I'm screwed," he muttered

A couple of loud shots rang out. Wally expected to have a couple of holes through his body and blood seeping onto his red uniform, instead the Gordanians' heads exploded into a fountain of blood and brain matter. The tanks then exploded into brilliant blue, sending bits of metal in every direction. Once the smoke cleared, Flash could see gaping holes in the enemy armour, the metal still white hot and melting.

It was the Spartans; Flash could see that the Gordanians were shot by the two carrying the sniper rifles, the barrels still smoking from the recent discharge.

One of them jumped off the tank, on this Spartan's chest plate read; _UNSC Spartan-III-G099_, and jogged over to the hero.

"Hold still sir, you'll be up and running in a moment," he said

The Spartan received a syringed and injected it into the Speedster; Wally felt a cool sensation spread from his arms where the needle was inserted. Eventually his muscles no longer ached and he could move again.

Shayera and Diana flew over.

"Are you okay Flash?" asked the Princess

"Yeah, I'm good to go Wondy,"

**XXxxXX**

"Kelly, shift your fire right," ordered John

"Shifting," Kelly complied

Her tank's turret rotated to the right and opened fire on two enemy vehicles. The blue beams struck into the Gordanian hull, melting away the armour and disabling the tank.

"Threat neutralised,"

"Heads up, heavy infantry to our left," warned Cortana

"Copy that," said Tom who was sitting at the machine gunner's position on Fred's tank, "suppressing,"

He aimed the chain gun fitted with shredder rounds and fired at the oncoming Gordanians. The wing aliens took cover in a crater.

"I got them," said Fred coolly, "switching to phosphorus,"

Fred's fingers danced across the console as he switched to the white phosphorus load out on his MAC gun.

"Firing,"

A split second later, the Gordanians were consumed in a white cloud. As the smoke dissipated, it revealed a burning ground and the flames licking hungrily at the corpses.

"Real pretty," Kelly remarked

Once the flames burned out, a couple of Abrams M1A2s rolled over the corpses.

"Alert, enemy fighters inbound… huh, that's odd," said Cortana

"What is it?" asked John

"They opened fire with rockets,"

The front console in John's tank warned him of the inbound threat, and then read "engaging anti-missile system."

The Juggernauts defence system fired projectiles into the oncoming missiles, destroying them in mid-flight and leaving the heavy armour unscathed.

"Nice touch," said Linda, "but too close for comfort,"

"Hey," chuckled Kelly, "you said you didn't want the tank,"

The Gordanian fighters didn't also just opened fire on the Spartans, but also on the Leaguers and the human armoured vehicles. However the human forces did not take any casualties from the attack for their armoured vehicles were also outfitted with missile defence systems.

As for the Leaguers, the Spartan looked skyward to see Wonder Woman use her lasso to catch a rocket and fling it back at the enemy. Which resulted in a massive explosion as one fighter was hit and showered its comrades in its own debris, creating a distraction. In which Hawkgirl moved in with her mace to disable more of the crafts.

The Gordanians flew by and turned around for another pass.

"Hold on, I have a lock, firing," John calmly said.

The missiles in the missile pod came to life and streaked towards their designated target, consuming the fighters in a fireball and showering the earth with debris.

"Maintain formation and let's continue,"

The assault force continued, passing by hundreds of crashed Gordanian ships, which were done by the handy work of _Majestic_.

"Front lines are in sight, commence the attack," The Brigadier's voice sounded over the radios.

The regiments came to a halt; artillery units and tanks set up their positions and opened fire on the last phase of the enemies' first lines. Once the barrage ended, the units rolled over the crater marked plains and engaged the Gordanian forces within arm's length, and prepared to smash through.

The battle was over in a matter of minutes as the allied units rolled over the Gordanians. After the break through, the regiments parted to complete their respective objectives.

**XXxxXX**

"We have a break through," the Brigadier said over the radio, "split up to complete your objectives, good luck,"

The drive to the Gordanian HQ was eventful, as some would say. Every now and then, the 89th would run into pockets of heavy or light resistances and hit and run ambushes, still they pushed on through.

**XXxxXX**

Gordanian HQ…

"Chief, we have enemy light armour, five hundred meters north of your position," Cortana warned

"Copy that, Spartans, it would be a good idea to dismount," John said

Ash, Linda and Mark who sat on the treads, got off the tank and jogged behind them. While Olivia, Tom and Lucy who were in the machine gunner positioned continued their suppressive fire.

The enemy tanks fired a salvo at the Spartans, red beams streaked towards the Juggernauts and splashed across the energy shields.

"Okay open up," John ordered

John, Fred and Kelly loaded White Phosphorus rounds into the MAC guns and fired. The shells exploded onto the hulls of the Gordanian Armour, encasing them in white smoke and fire. Of course the Gordanians encased in the armoured vehicles didn't suffer, but those in unarmoured vehicles equivalent to jeeps or trucks, burned. The quick distraction provided with the Spartans an opportunity, and so they opened fire. Blue beams slashed across the enemy formations, destroying or disabling the units.

M1A2 Abrams arrived on the scene and helped the Spartans finish of the rest of the position by firing a few salvos of Depleted Uranium rounds. The shells slammed into the hull of the enemy units and tore through them.

Overhead, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman wreaked hell upon the Gordanian Airborne, by hacking them to delinquency or hurling them into one another.

"You think we should help Wondy?" asked Kelly

Fred looked to the skies and watched the battle unfold.

"Nahh, she'll be fine," he said.

"Hold on, we got it," said Linda, indicating Mark as well.

The two snipers aimed their rifles and fired a couple of rounds at the Gordanian Airborne horde; the casings of the shells were ejected from the rifles and clattered onto the charred earth. The bullets found their mark and tore through the flesh of the invaders, sending them plummeting to the ground. Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl turned around and gave their thanks and went back to covering the 89th's advance.

The regiments pushed on, with Chinooks and Black Hawks flying into drop off reinforcements and supplies and bringing out the wounded. So far, the assault was going well, until they reached the HQ. That was when both sides got bogged down.

"Kelly and Lucy, provide covering fire for Arca Company to advance," ordered John

"Roger,"

Eventually, the 89th regiment broke through the Gordanian defences. The Spartans had to leave the Juggernauts behind, because now it's urban warfare. John called in the Albatrosses to pick up the Juggernauts.

The Spartans advanced under fire, and breached the base defences.

"Ooohhh crap," muttered Linda

"What is it?" asked Kelly

In the centre of the base, above vast plains, hovered a Gordanian flagship. It reminded John of the Covenenant carriers prowling over Reach.

John attached a jetpack to his back, grabbed a medium fusion bomb device and prepared for battle.

**XXxxXX**

It took a painstaking two hours for the 89th to have a complete breakthrough through the Gordanian lines, and soon the other two regiments attacked the HQ from the flanks. The invaders were now beginning to become desperate, initiating suicidal charges at the human forces, but every time they were forced back. Eventually the three regiments managed to pin down the Gordanians near the Flagship.

Diana landed on the ground next to the Spartans, who were spread out and engaging the winged aliens in ranged combat behind cover of some rundown structures.

"There's too many of them," said Shayera

"I can't risk running through the killzone, their mortars are consistent and dense," said Flash with an annoyed tone.

"Let me try it," said 117

"What are you going to do Chief?" asled Flash

"Deliver Hope," he replied

"You want us to come along?" asked the other Spartans

"No, stay here and cover me," he turned to face the heroes, "I suggest you stay here, if you follow me, there's a chance you'll be killed,"

Before Flash could say anything, the Chief ran off into the charcoaled fields and oncoming fire.

"The man's crazy!" yelled Shayera

Diana attempted to go after the Chief, but the enemy fire forced her back behind cover.

**XXxxXX**

John panted as he ran with his all, bomb in one hand, his SMG in the other. His heart thumped in his ears as he scanned the area for any threats.

Flash was right, the enemy fire here was thick, a couple of companies suffered heavy casualties trying to advance, the only way John could have gotten this far was blind luck and the optical camo system on his exoskeleton. An occasional shot would hit his shields, but so far his optical camo still held and did not falter.

"John!" It was Kelly, "what you're doing is insane! You remember what happened last time we did this,"

"Yes, we lost Sam, don't worry I promise I will make it back,"

The Chief concentrated on running through the hellish warzone; kicking up the blackened ground and jumping over ravines.

"JOHN INCOMING!" Warned Cortana

A Gordanian Artillery rounds exploded next to John, lifting the Spartan into the air. John landed on the ground shoulder and rolled into a crater, the bomb with him as well. Darkness consumed him as dirt bounced off his visor.

_Flashback…_

"_MOVE IT TRAINEE!" Mendez barked_

_It was raining, it was night time, and the pre-augmented Spartans crawled through mud under barbed wire. John remembered it was cold, and the trainers barked orders while fire blanks._

_Kelly was crawling in front of John, and Fhajad-084 right behind him._

"_MOVE IT! MOVE IT!"_

_The Spartans continued on crawling, after clearing the wire, John lined up by the next course behind Kelly. Her hair was dirty from the crawl and stuck together in strands._

"_Zero-eight-seven, you're up!" yelled a Trainer._

_Kelly jumped into the mud pool, she resurfaced a few seconds later and swam to the other side._

"_One-one-seven, you're turn!"_

_John jumped in and started swimming, he reached the other side and got out of the pool and spat out the mud._

"_Take five trainees," said Mendez_

_The Spartans sat down in the rain and let the mud wash off._

"_One-one-sev…."_

_Things started to become blurry for John as he heard high-pitched screams._

_End Flashback…_

Black dots swarmed John's vision, and his muscles burned.

The alarms were blaring inside his helmet, his first shield layer was drained completely and the second was nearly out. Optical Camouflage disabled and Hydrostatic gel oozed out of his armour, trying to cool down. John tasted blood, and the visor was cracked, but not compromised. The suit began to inject biofoam into him and recharged the shields.

"John are you okay?" asked Fred over the comm.

A mortar round exploded a few feet away from John.

"I think so,"

"You're not," said Cortana firmly, "you have multiple organ ruptures,"

"I don't have time to worry about them," John coughed

He picked himself up and grabbed the medium fusion bomb, readied his SMG and broke from cover. His muscles screamed in protest but he continued on anyway.

"Chief, three airborne guys are inbound to your left," warned Cortana

"Got it,"

John fired a quick burst at the Gordanians, sending them plummeting to the Earth and slapped in a fresh clip into the SMG. With his optical camo disabled, a lot more fire was directed his way, but the shields still held out.

After running a few hundred metres, the Chief was directly under the Gordanian Flagship.

"Hangar bays open Chief, Gordanian High Command are on board according to the roster."

John activated his jetpack and boosted himself through the air and landed softly in the hangar bay. A small welcoming committee were on board and fired at the Chief.

John ducked to one side and returned fire, hitting a Lieutenant dead between the eyes. Spraying brain matter over the view screen of a docked fighter behind him, the Spartan then armed the bomb, set the timer for two minutes and hurled it deep into the ship.

**XXxxXX**

The enemy soldiers instinctively ducked behind cover, allowing the Chief to make his escape.

John launched himself off the ship, the timer read 1minutes:30seconds. The Super Soldier entered a free fall, air and explosions ripping past him. He then activated his jet pack, slowing his descent.

The Spartan then touched down on the ground and sprinted back to his allies.

The timer read 0minutes:0seconds. John heard the thunderous roar of the explosion as the bomb detonated.

A massive ball of smoke and fire formed at the middle of the ship, then smaller explosions ripped through the vessel. The energy shields shimmered and winked out for it was overloaded. The explosion and the stress proved too great for the ship's super structure, it cracked in half and crashed, kicking up dirt into the morning sky.

**XXxxXX**

Diana, Wally and Shayera stood with the Spartans, save for John, when they saw the Gordanian Flagship consumed in a fireball, followed by a thunderous roar. The prowling ship was cut to ribbons by the explosion, what was left of it crashed into the blackened soil of Greece.

"Woah!" exclaimed Flash, "that's some explosion,"

The Chief then returned to the Spartans, his armour was dented, gashed and burned, his visor was cracked and trickles of blood seeped out from cracks within the plates.

"Damn," the Speedster muttered

"Great Hera," Wonder Woman covered her mouth, "are you alright,"

The Chief nodded.

"Let's end this," he said.

**XXxxXX**

**That's a wrap, next chapter will be up within 24 hours… finger crossed.**

**Please Review and tell me what you think of the Juggernaut.**


	5. Origins

**Contains references to **_**Halo: Legends Origin I and II**_

**XXxxXX**

Watchtower, founding member's common room…

Weeks later the war was over and the mop up finished. Diana sat in the Watchtower, slurping down a glass of iced mocha. Shayera came over and sat down next to the Amazon.

The two were enjoying some quiet time until Batman interrupted.

"Conference room, now." He said in a harsh voice.

…

All of the walking fit Leaguers assembled in the conference room, Superman stood at the podium and began his speech.

"My Friends, it's good to see most of you are here. As you know, we are rounding up the last of the Gordanians, now our most pressing concern is about the Spartans,"

There were a few murmurs in the audience

"Has anyone seen them after what happened in Greece?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Everyone," said J'onn, "we have an incoming message, I'm putting it on the big screen,"

The large monitor switched on, a person wearing armour similar to that of Johnson's appeared.

"Hello Justice League, I am Commander Miranda Keyes, we would like to have a talk to the senior members about our origin,"

"Commander, might I ask why?" queried Superman

"We noticed many of you do not trust us, and our situation is somewhat dire so after much collaboration we decided that it is best you know of our history,"

"Alright, so how are we going to do this?" asked Stewart

"Have your founding members meet us, we're currently in orbit over New Zealand,"

"Alright, give us two hours,"

"Copy, out,"

The link turned off.

"You think it could be a trap?" asked Stewart

"Doubt it, after what I've seen, they have no hostile intentions," said Batman

The founding members just stared at him.

"What?"

"I thought you were the paranoid one Bats," said Flash

"And?"

"Ah nevermind."

**XXxxXX**

Kelly stood in the door way of John's quarters on _Majestic_ with her helmet off, letting her wavy brown her flow free while John put on his armour. He often wondered how she managed with the long hair when getting her helmet on.

"Tell me why we are revealing or secrets to a couple of costumed people when ONI Protocols clearly forbids it," said Kelly lightly

"We need to get a way home and less people chasing us, so if the cost to do it is to reveal our origin to them, it's a small price to pay,"

"Okay, just to be sure, who's chasing us?"

"Cadmus probably,"

"Ah, also, do we have to tell them EVERYTHING?" she said with great emphasis

"Just enough to give them a good picture,"

"Alright then,"

John was about to attach the torso plates when he grimaced in pain.

"Here, let me help you with that," said Kelly

She stepped forward and helped him put on the plates, something stirred inside them both.

**XXxxXX**

Flash piloted the Javelin into _Majestic's_ hangar bay.

"Wow," he said, "these people are well organised and got alotta resources,"

The Leaguers gazed at the bay, sentinel archetypes floated around either on patrol or helping the engineers in repairing. Their gaze then turned to the numerous vehicles and aircrafts docked and parked along the area.

Outside, Thom was waiting for them.

"Greeting, my name is Thom; my masters await you, please this way,"

"Where is Cortana?" asked Diana

"She's on the other end of the system; you came here to find out the truth I believe?"

"Yes," said Stewart, "we'd like to know who you people are and if we should fully trust you,"

Everyone was half expecting Thom to explode at Stewart, in a way they thought he'd be like Cortana, self-aware and have a personality.

"Of course,"

But the AI didn't.

The Leaguers walked through the maze of hallways and rode on elevators until they reached the bridge where the Spartans were waiting for them.

Bruce scanned the area, in one corner stood an old man and woman of Caucasian appearance, the man wore a military fatigue that the Dark Knight didn't recognise and the woman wore matte grey clothing and a lab coat. In the centre of the room, stood the Spartans, who then turned around to face the Leaguers.

"Nice to see you can make it," said Miranda, "have a seat,"

Everyone on the bridge found seats to sit at, and as a little joke, Cortana created a seat on the holoprojector for herself.

"Okay, what would you like to know?"

"Where are you from?" Stewart quickly asked

"Well, obviously we're going to need authentication in this," said Doctor Halsey "J'onn, I've read your file, I'd like you to act as a lie detector, can you do it?"

"Yes,"

"Before we get stuck into it, what we are about to tell you are sensitive information, so don't go spreading it around, what you are about to here, are very disturbing,"

The Leaguers shifted uneasily in their seats.

"Okay, let's start with introductions; I am Dr Catherine Halsey,"

The others took off their helmets, surprising the Leaguers. The one called 117, or Chief had rugged features, strong jaw, brown hair, brown eyes which told a sad story, and over his right eye was a curving scar that.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan two, John one-one-seven, leader of the Spartans"

The man next to him had jet black hair with streaks of silver and a small scar over the bridge of his nose; in his hand he twirled a combat knife with great precision.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Spartan two, Frederic one-oh-four,"

A woman who wielded a sniper rifle, had red hair and green eyes, to many she was very attractive. She then introduced herself.

"Petty Officer Second Class Spartan two, Linda oh-five-eight,"

Next was the woman with the rabbit on her chest plate, she had a rough angular beauty and was just as attractive as Linda. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and spoke.

"Petty Officer Second Class Spartan two, Kelly oh-eight-seven,"

The introductions continued for another minute.

"Okay, it's obvious you're in the military, but what organisation?" asked Superman

"The United Nations Space Command," answered John

"Wait, WHAT!" yelled Stewart and Shayera

"There's no such organisation," said Batman calmly

"We are from an alternate reality, and it is the 26th century in our universe," said Miranda

"It is true," said J'onn confirming their claims

"Woah," said Flash, "what's the difference between your universe and ours?"

"Well for starters," said Cortana, "we don't meta-humans, mutants or aliens that you are aware of, so no Amazons, no Green Lanterns, no Kryptonians, no Gordanians or Thanagarians, well you get the picture."

The AI let it sink in for a bit.

"Wow," said Shayera, "so could you start at the beginning for us?"

"Sure," replied Cortana

Another holoprojector came to life to show images alongside Cortana's tale.

"We achieved numerous technological advancements such as cold fusion which allowed us to have green energy. Eventually our Earth had too many souls, and so we looked to the stars, we colonised Mars. And during this expansion, old feuds arose, Fascist and Socialist ideas resurfaced, which lead to an all-out bloody war between three factions."

Cortana played images of the war.

"Oh Hera," muttered Diana

"God…" breathed Stewart

"In the end, the UNSC won, but at a great cost. After the war, it led to the founding of the United Earth Government, with the UNSC being the armed forces."

"Impressive," commented Batman

"In April 2291, the Shaw-Fujikawa Slipace Drive was completed, which allowed deep space travel,"

"What exactly is a Slipspace Drive?" asked Batman

Dr Halsey answered his question. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and spoke.

"It is a faster than light way of travel, imagine the universe is a piece of paper, so let's say it takes an ant three seconds to travel five centimetres on the paper, now if I scrunch up the piece of paper, and let the ant travel over it, from one end in three seconds, he has travelled five centimetres, but then I un-scrunch the paper, the ant has now covered fifteen centimetres. That is essentially how a slipspace drive works, it compresses Space."

Flash gave a whistle, as videos of ships entering and exiting slipspace close to planet systems showed on the holoprojector.

"And so with Slipspace technology," Cortana continued, "we colonised other worlds, by the 26th century, we had controlled over eight hundred planets,"

The Leaguers were very surprised at that number.

"But we were not devoid of conflict. Insurrectionists who were mostly at the outer colonies demanded to stand free of the UNSC, to become independent. Of course that would not happen as it would deny the inner colonies much needed resources. Soon there peaceful protest and rallies took a radical turn of terrorist attacks, in which most of their support was gone,"

Images of Terrorist attacks scrolled across the screen.

"Soon pacification campaigns required more military personnel as there were more Insurrectionist cells popping up, to combat the cells effectively, the UNSC initiated the Spartan-I program. The Spartan-Is consisted of volunteers from various branches of the Marine Corps and Special Forces."

"So what exactly was the aim of the Program?" asked Shayera

"To produce super soldiers," answered Halsey, "the Spartan –Is were given enhancements that increased their speed, eyesight, strength and cognitive abilities. But time worked against the Spartan-Is, they either retired or returned to their former units. The next program to follow is the Spartan-II program."

"That's us," said Kelly

"This program was headed by me," said Halsey with a tone of remorse, "there were radical changes with the Spartan-II program, the aim to greatly enhance the subject and equip them with state of the art technology."

"What were these changes?"

"Instead of volunteers we had conscripts; these children had the required genetic profile for the program."

"WHAT! Did you say children?" said the Leaguers who were completely thrown back by what the doctor said.

Halsey took a deep breath and nodded.

"ONI Agents kidanpped these children and brought them to Reach, to cover up these kidnappings, the candidates were replaced by unstable Flash clones, who would inevitable die within a few months. In the eyes of friends and families, the children involved with the Spartan program, were dead."

"Why did you use children?" said Shayera clearly disturbed, "the idea of using children is abhorrent,"

Halsey pinched the bridge of her nose and spoke.

"We needed to condition them from the beginning, to make them universal soldiers, capable of operating in all aspects of warfare, conventional and unconventional,"

"I take it that to produce Spartan-IIs is very expensive," said Batman

Halsey nodded.

"But surely the idea to use child soldiers in your universe is abhorrent,"

"Yes," answered Halsey.

The Leaguers felt uncomfortable listening to the stories of the Spartans, but they had to. Looking at a person whose decision was viewed as inhumane all for the greater good, was quiet troubling.

"Many say what I did to these children made me a monster, but without them, humanity in our reality would have been extinct. The Spartan-II program was the best choice at the time."

"We hold nothing against you Doctor, in a way you saved our lives," said Fred

The Leaguers quizzically tilted their head.

"More on that later, there were one hundred and fifty candidates for the Spartan-II program, but due to budget it was reduced only seventy five. The Spartan-IIs were moved to the planet Reach, were they would begin their training."

"Doc," interrupted Flash, "um, exactly how old were the Spartan-IIs?"

"John, I'll let you handle this part," said the Doctor.

John nodded.

"We were six years old, I remembered meeting Dr Halsey at my school and she gave me a quarter. Then I went home, and did the usual routine. When I woke up, I wasn't in my bed; I was on a UNSC ship, then on Reach. There I met Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez where we began our training."

The next half hour showed snippets of the Spartan-II training, mostly capture-the-flag and orienteering exercises.

… _Start_

_The video was a "capture the flag" exercise and came from a Tango Company's soldier, who was sitting in the passenger seat of a truck._

"_Dammit, the road up ahead is blocked," said the driver._

_The truck stopped in front of a boulder._

"That's when Kelly, Fhajad, me and Sam rolled under the truck and attached ourselves to it." Said John

The Leaguers raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed by the Spartan's plan.

"_Shit you think it's those freak section three kids?" asked the passenger_

"_Probably, cover me; I don't want to get a dart in my ass," said the driver_

_The video then showed how the Spartans stealthy executed their plan, causing chaos in Tango Company's compound, and took the flag._

… _End_

"The Spartans were often pitted against Tango Company when it came to war games," said Cortana, "but Tango Company always played dirty, like using live rounds,"

"What?" yelled Diana, "those children could have been killed,"

"None were killed, but a couple were tortured,"

"Monsters," muttered Diana.

"After eight years of training was the augmentation process, where the Spartans were about 15 years of age." Said Halsey

"Something tells me this isn't going to be pretty," gulped Flash.

"The risks involved were great,"

"What risks exactly?" asked Shayera

"To name a few, pulverisations of bones, Parkinson's disease, Fletcher's Syndrome, muscle spasms, reduced sexual drive, elephantiasis and blindness,"

The heroes shifted uneasily in their seats upon hearing what Halsey said.

The Doctor bit her bottom lip and continued.

"Thirty Spartans died in the augmentation process, and twelve others were badly disfigured from it. In the end, there was only thirty three fully operational Spartans."

"So what were the results of the augmentations?" asked Batman

"The Spartans could see further, unaided night vision, increased muscle and bone density; they could lift three times their own body weight and run at the maximum speed fifty five kilometres per hour. Kelly can run faster than the other Spartans. Other results were near instantaneous reaction, and higher cognitive abilities, allowing them to move and think faster than their opponents."

"That's pretty impressive," said Stewart.

"Keep in mind that these results were recorded around thirty years ago, as the Spartans became older, their abilities improved,"

"So you Spartan-IIs must be at least forty five years old," said Flash, "but you're so young,"

"Oh that's easy," said John, "Slipspace travel, time dilation and cryogenics,"

"The remaining Spartans were posted to the UNSC _Atlas _where they could recover in microgravity and…" Halsey paused, "where they would be tested,"

"Mind elaborating on that Doc," said Flash

"The Office of Naval Intelligence Section Three, wanted to know how successful the Spartan-II program was, so they devised a run in plan,"

"Which was?"

"Four ODSTs would pick a fight with a Spartan; ONI wanted to see how effective a Spartan would be against a well-trained normal human opponent."

Footage aboard the UNSC _Atlas_ gym played.

… _Start_

_It was a young John, working out at the various stations. Then four fit men with the ODST tattoo on their shoulders entered the room. That was when the confrontation began._

"_How about you take that pin and shove it meat!" sneered the leader of the ODSTs_

"_Hold it!" said a Sergeant who entered the gym, he was fat, and had his belly bulging over his belt._

"_Hey sarge, we were just…"_

"_If you guys are itching for a fight, then get in the ring,"_

_The five men entered the ring._

"_I'm going to rip apart you meat," spat the leader_

_John then launched himself at the leader, smashing the man's rib. He then turned and punched the next man across the jaw, snapping his head back and tumbling in a heap into a corner as blood oozed out of his mouth._

_The next ODST the swung a punch at John, who then sidestepped to avoid the attack and kicked the man in the stomach, the ODST doubled over and didn't move. The last man then grabbed a bar and launched himself at John. The Spartan then dodged and ducked the attack, and grabbed the bar and twisted. Breaking the ODST's wrist, the soldier howled in pain. John then gave a side kick, sending the soldier rolling end over end._

"_That's enough trainee," a voice said coolly, it was Mendez._

_John stood to attention and let the bar clatter on the floor. He was covered in blood and so was the ring._

"_What the hell are you!" said the Sergeant in shock towards John, the pudgy man then turned to Mendez, "Chief Mendez, what are you…"_

_The Sergeant's eyes widened when he realised what had happened._

"_He's one of them isn't he?"_

"_The medics are on their way," said Mendez calmly._

… _End_

"Holy crap," said Flash _so that's the result if a person doesn't restrain themselves._

The room was silent for another minute. Breaking the silence, Stewart asked a question.

"ODSTs?"

Johnson answered his question.

"It stands for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers; those guys are better known as Helljumpers."

"I'll play a video for you to understand," said Cortana.

…_Start_

_It was the drop pod area of the UNSC Pillar of Autum._

_"__Most of the crew - not to mention your fellow jarheads - will be leaving the ship in lifeboats. They'll ride to the surface in air conditioned comfort, sipping wine, and nibbling on appetizers. Not you, however. Oh no, you're going to leave the __Pillar of Autumn__ in a different method. Tell me boys and girls... how will you leave?__" roared Major Antonio Silva_

_"__We go feet first, sir!__" replied the ODSTs_

_The ODSTs entered drop pods and roared to the surface of Halo, some of the pods didn't make it as they burned in the atmosphere or their chutes and/or jets failed to activate. Once the soldiers landed, they rushed out of their pods into an oncoming horde of enemy fire, fighting back._

Of course the video hadn't shown the Covenant, as it had ended when the anonymous ODST soldier exited his pod and pulled a wounded comrade to cover.

…_End_

"Damn," said Johnson, "they actually volunteer for this?"

Cortana then explained the origins of the ODSTs and how they came to be. After a quick break, it was back to the explanations.

"The Spartan-IIs scored a string of victories against the Insurrectionists, and were finally given their next upgrade, the MJOLNIR Mark four armour, which only the Spartans could wear, because normal humans could not handle the stresses of the armour."

"Stresses?" asked Flash

"The armour enhances the abilities of its wearer, making the Spartans much faster and stronger. If a normal human wears the mark four or any later versions, they are literally broken apart by the armour, but since the bones of the Spartan-IIs have greater mass and density they can handle the armour without problem."

Halsey gave a sigh, and closed her eyes for a few seconds. The heroes knew that this part was going to be very disturbing.

"This world is called Harvest, one of the outer colonies,"

A picture of a beautiful planet appeared on screen.

"Estimated population; three hundred thousand, on February 3 2525, all contact was lost, recon elements were sent to the planet, but they were all lost. A battle group was deployed to find out what had happened, this was what was left of Harvest."

The planet was shown to be of ash, unending firestorms and nuclear winter ravaged its surface.

"God, what happened?" said Shayera shocked.

"The planet was glassed, as we call it." Replied Johnson, "I was there, on Harvest from the very beginning,"

"Glassed?" asked Batman

"The surface of the planet is bombarded by plasma weapons until nothing remains but glass and ash."

Halsey let the Sergeant Major take over and allow herself a brief respite.

"We thought the came in peace, but after a while, they attacked us. We rallied the colonial militia and evacuated the planet."

Halsey then spoke.

"It should be noted, that Johnson here has much during the war. Now the battle group was nearly annihilated by one lone alien ship, the UNSC _Heracles _managed to escape, but suffered heavy damages, during the _Heracles's_ retreat, the crew received a message from the alien vessel,"

The message was then played across the speakers.

"_Your destruction is the will of the Gods, and we are their instruments,"_

"They called themselves the Covenant," said Halsey, "and we went to war against them, a war that lasted nearly three decades, a war that pushed us to the edge of extinction. We were outmatched, outgunned and outnumbered by the Covenant. Naval engagements for us were costly as most of the time, the Covenant won, and when the Covenant won in space, our victories planet side counted for nothing."

Footage of UNSC forces fighting to the death on the ground and wreaking hell on the Covenant forces played across the screen, it was sheer brutality. The heroes were glad that they didn't have to go through such hell like the Spartans did.

"As you can see, we are more than capable of holding our own planet-side and have scored numerous victories on ground engagements," said Halsey, "but those victories were still costly, so the Spartan-III program was created. But I did not head this program, Colonel Ackerson did."

"More children suffered I guess," said Diana

"In a way, yes. The Spartan-III program, in the words of Colonel Ackerson is to mass produce cheap, expendable, super soldiers."

The heroes shifted again in their seats.

"Great Hera, the UNSC practically threw away children?" said Diana with a tone of anger.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," said Halsey in a solemn tone, "the difference between the Spartan-II and Spartan-III program was that the mortality rate during the augmentation process was effectively reduced to zero. Most Spartan-IIIs wore the SPI armour, which did not enhance their strength, their armour was also drastically cheaper to produce."

Then Halsey dropped the bombshell.

"They were sent on missions where they weren't expected to return, most of the time, casualties are nearly one hundred per cent."

The heroes' hearts dropped upon hearing the purpose of the Spartan-IIIs. They then turned to face the latest generation of Spartans.

"We're not offended or feel undermined at all," said Ash, "most of us are war orphans and we were given a chance to get back at those bastards,"

"Wow, talk about hatred," muttered Flash

"Can you tell us about the Covenant then?" asked Superman

"The Covenant," Cortana said, "are a collection of alien species, they are united through the belief of transcendence if they follow through the footsteps of the Forerunners, that they will become gods."

The AI then explained each species with painstaking detail, from their ranks in the Covenant Hierarchy to their culture, which gave the heroes a greater insight into the foes of the UNSC. She also showed them the atrocities committed by the Covenant, the way how they handled prisoners and the dead they desecrated, which made the heroes' stomach turn.

"Well as you know," John said, "we were losing the war, and there wasn't enough Spartans to turn the tide of battle,"

John then told his tale after the battle of Reach, with clips from his camera displayed on the screen.

"Reach, is on the doorstep of Earth, and when the planet was glassed, I was sent to join Captain Jacob Keyes on the UNSC_ Pillar of Autumn_. As Cole Protocol state, UNSC vessels must make a randomised slipspace jump. That was when we discovered Halo."

The ringworld appeared on screen.

"We learnt of the purpose of Halo, it was built by the Forerunners,"

"Forerunners?" asked Diana

Cortana then took over the conversation.

"Over one hundred thousand years ago in our reality, lived a powerful, wise and noble alien race, called the Forerunners, this ship and more than half of the technology you have seen on it is of Forerunner origin. The Covenant worshipped the Forerunners, they believed that the Forerunners had transcended into Godhood, and the relics they left behind were for those worthy of the Great Journey. How wrong the Covenant were."

The Leaguers were quiet listening intently, watching the videos within the Forerunner Archives on board _Majestic_.

"The Forerunners' principle is to maintain diversity of life in the galaxy; they were the protectors of the Milky Way. Through their guidance, peace was achieved and held for many years until the Flood appeared,"

"Flood?" asked Diana

"A parasitic life form that infects mutates and takes over the host in a very short amount of time. Once the Flood infectious form has taken over the host, the host's consciousness dies and the Flood gain the knowledge and skills of the host. Humans are perfect targets for Flood because of the high Calcium content and protected rib cage." Said Cortana, "this was our first contact with the Flood,"

Another video played, it came from Johnson's chest plate camera when he, a group of marines and Keyes went out in search of weapons cache.

…

_There were a number of marines in a dark grey Forerunner chamber, they were all tense, for they had just passed an Elite with scrambled organs, and blood smeared hallways."_

"_Oh man it's quiet," said Mendoza_

"_Belt up Mendoza,"_

_The team started to get jumpy when a wave of fleshy pods overcame them. Many of the pods popped as automatic gunfire shredded through their ranks, but for every one fallen, more took its place._

"_Fire your weapon Jenkins," yelled Johnson_

"_There's too many of them sir!"_

"_Oh god, get it off me!" screamed a soldier_

_Johnson reached around his back and tore off an infection form._

"_Fire your weapon!" Johnson barked_

_The private just stood there with fear in his eyes. One by one, the marines were swarmed over by the Flood and were assimilated._

…

Miranda and Halsey watched in horror as they saw Jacob Keyes fight off the horde only to be assimilated and dragged off.

…

_Johnson and Bisenti backed away, their rifles firing at the Flood, the small infection forms were torn to pieces by automatic fire. He looked up and saw his team turned into grotesque pale beings, Avery and Bisenti were given no choice but to kill their own men._

…

During the video, Flash and Shayera emptied their stomachs from the very graphic content they just saw.

"It must have been gut-wrenching to kill the people who one fought and bleed beside with," commented Diana.

"It was, Jenkins was with me on Harvest," said Avery.

"During the Forerunner-Flood War," said Cortana, "the Forerunner were slowly losing, as the Flood became smarter for every sentient being they consumed, they gained the skills and knowledge of those assimilated. Eventually the Forerunners exhausted every option, stellar collapse strategies were not enough for the Flood were too many, there was one last option, the activation of the Halo Array, which was to be used as a last resort if the Flood became out of control. When activated, the Halo rings would wipe out all sentient life within three radii of Galactic centre, by sending out radiation that targets certain cells in the nervous system, which includes, but is not limited to, neurons, by harmonizing all neurological frequencies,"

The heroes were taken back by such advancement of technology and the vastness of the Forerunner Empire.

Cortana then played the Battle of the Maginot and Offensive Bias's recount of the final days of the Forerunner. The heroes were stunned as thousands of ships like _Majestic_ and millions of vessels clashed together in a great naval battle, and the strategies used by Offensive Bias to counter Mendicant Bias were of sheer brilliance and insanity. And once the Halo rings were activated, millions of ships under the command of Mendicant Bias drifted derelict because they were piloted by biological pilots.

"Good god! Galactic suicide?" said Superman aghast.

"Yes, the Flood food supply had to be destroyed in order to preserve biological diversity in the galaxy, ironic isn't it? After all life was wiped from the galaxy by the Halo Array, Forerunner machines began repopulating the galaxy with DNA samples and Embryos they catalogued."

After another quick break, John, Miranda and Avery recounted the events that surrounded Delta Halo, starting the Battle of New Mombasa to the landings on Delta Halo, to killing the Prophet of Regret. The heroes were scarred half to death when they saw the Gravemind through John's eyes.

…

"_What is that?" said Cortana_

"_I?" the Gravemind spoke, "I am the monument to all your sins,"_

_Its voice was male, deep and low that gave an aurora of wisdom and power_

...

"What is that thing?" asked Flash, his face growing pale.

John answered his question.

"It or he is the Gravemind, he is a collection of the fallen of the Floods and their foes, and he is what commands them,"

The UNSC personnel let it sink in for a moment then continued on.

Miranda spoke of the alliance formed between the Elites (and the factions that they commanded) and Humans. The Leaguers were shocked by this revelation.

"Why exactly did you form an alliance with the Elites, after all they had done?"

Miranda spoke

"It is a long story. The Arbiter told me that; when the Chief killed the Prophet or Regret and his Sangheili Honour Guards, the roles of the Elites were being replaced by the Brutes, this naturally upset the Elites as they had been the protectors and vanguards of the Covenant, and when finally the Prophets ordered the genocide of the Elites and the truth purpose of Halo uncovered, that's when they broke off with the factions they commanded and became the Separatists. It was an alliance born out of desperation and necessity."

"Wow, I guess when the Elites joined you guys, the war was turning in your favour," said Flash

Miranda nodded.

"Their warships proved invaluable in naval engagements; and their warriors gave invaluable support on ground engagements,"

Cortana and John then talked about the events that occurred upon High Charity and how it fell to the Flood. The video showed the walkways covered with gore and Flood spores, which made Flash feel queasy.

"Must have been hell," said Diana referring to Cortana's suffering at the hands of Gravemind.

"It was, I was so tempted to give in and join the Flood. 'Join your voice with mine and sing everlasting victory', which was what Gravemind said to me." Replied the AI.

The heroes were greatly disturbed to find out that the Flood made it to Earth and that to contain the outbreak, half of Africa was glassed.

They also witnessed the Prophet of Truth's execution by the hands of the Arbiter, and the heroes took some small measure of joy when they saw the deceitful prophet's death.

As a finale, Cortana finished off with the final days of the Human-Covenant war, from the activation of the portal on Earth to the firing sequence of Installation 04B, and how they ended up in the reality of the Justice League. The UNSC members then answered all of the questions of the Leaguers, bringing them up to speed with everything on the 'need to know' basis.

"Wow," breathed Flash, "I know I've said that a lot, but wow. I mean, to tell you the truth, I am very, very relieved that I didn't have to endure something like that, what I've seen is well beyond my wildest imaginations."

"So why does Forerunner technology commune with your DNA?" asked Batman

"Someone else had to become the custodians of the Galaxy, and the Forerunners view Humanity as their equals and so passed the mantle to us," said Cortana, keeping it short.

"What exactly happened to the Forerunners after the Halo Array fired?" asked Diana, "aside from most of them being killed,"

"The Archives on board _Majestic _is just speculation, but it is believed the Forerunners departed for other galaxies."

"How many people died during the war?"

"Around twenty three billion lives were lost," said Cortana

**XXxxXX**

Later the Leaguers returned to the Watchtower while the UNSC personnel returned to the farm. The Spartans sat on the veranda in the back yard.

"Do you think we gave them too much info?" asked Kelly

"Well, nothing classified was revealed so to speak, so no." replied John

"So what happens now?"

"A bit or R and R,"

"Sounds good," said Fred, "you're cooking dinner tonight John."

**XXxxXX**

At the farm, dinner BBQ…

"John, you forgot to buy the lamb shanks," Kelly smiled, "again,"

"Fine, I'll go out and buy some," sighed John.

"I'll come with you; I got to get some ice cream," said Kelly.

"You two go, I'll take over," offered Fred.

"Thanks," said John.

"Oh and we need more shrimp," added Linda

"How many?" asked Kelly

"Um maybe another five kilos, the Threes are wolfing it down," smiled Linda

John and Kelly then walked to the civilian warthogs.

"So what happened to the three litre of chocolate fudge I got you last week?" asked John, starting the engine.

The moment those words escaped his mouth; a small part of John regretted it.

"Yesterday, Commander Keyes introduced me, Olivia and Linda to soap operas and so…."

_Oh god, I had to ask_, John groaned mentally.

"And so Sam left the house with Jen…."

After a while, Kelly finished her tale.

"So what about Lucy?" asked John.

"Our Lucy or soap opera Lucy?"

"Our Lucy,"

"She and Tom went out for a bit,"

"Ah,"

Finally after buying the wanted the groceries, they returned to the farm. John then placed the groceries in the fridge and then sparred with Kelly. After that session, the Spartan-IIs then watched TV together.

"Ooh look, a late night show," said Linda

"Ah, these shows always to bull about us," sighed Fred, "you guys saw the one last night?"

"Yes I did," said Kelly, "I mean the guy was totally slagging us,"

Johnson then walked in the room.

"Oh you're talking about that guy Kel?" Avery said

"Yeah,"

"You'd think he'd give us some amount of appreciation when we pulled his raggedy ass out of Africa,"

The Spartans gave a small laugh.

"Some people," sighed Linda

"Guys," said Cortana, "um, we have a tinsy problem here."

"What is it?" asked John

"Well, if everyone can suit up then go to the lounge, I'll explain from there."

The UNSC personnel minus Mendez and Halsey assembled in the lounge. Cortana then appeared on a nearby holoprojector.

"The Justice League contacted us via _Majestic_, apparently the World Assembly wants to have a debrief and meet us,"

"We should go," said Miranda, "if we don't it will arouse suspicion and bad public image."

"I agree with the Commander," said John, "so what time do we have to be there?"

"Around noon tomorrow, I'll send the League a message to tell them that we're coming,"

**XXxxXX**

World Assembly…

To the right of the stage, stood the Spartans and Miranda, and to the left stood about thirty leaguers, including the founding members. And in the audience were dignitaries from around the world and reporters.

"It's good to see that most were able to make it here today," said the spokesman

Numerous camera flashes went off at a time, mainly to capture images of the Spartans. The Spartans stood in marching formation, with John and Miranda standing at the front.

"And now, Superman has a few words to say,"

The Man of steel walked to the podium and began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this war had claimed many lives, and I would like to assure you that the Justice League and the Spartans are doing everything in their power to make sure the Gordanian threat will be suppressed,"

A small round of applause erupted and a multitude of camera flashes.

"If there are any questions right now, we are willing to take them,"

"Frank Raymond here from World News, I have one for the Spartans. Your methods as we have seen, for taking down criminals are very extreme, and the Gordanians were of lethal intent. This has obviously caused some concerns, can you explain your actions please,"

"We were trained and raised that way," said John

A number of people shifted uneasily in their seats.

"Thank you,"

Next was a General.

"General Sam Earls, I have a question for the Spartans," said a the General

The Spartans saluted the superior officer, who saluted in return.

"Could your representative introduce himself or herself," the General said

John spoke up.

"Master Chief Spartan-two, one-one-seven, sir."

A number of people were surprised, at this for obvious reasons.

"What branch, it's obvious that you are military,"

"The UNSC Navy, sir,"

"What does UNSC stand for Master Chief?"

"The United Nations Space Command,"

Gasps and murmurs swept across the audience.

"There is no such organisation here on Earth," said Earls, "where are you from?"

"From an alternate reality, and it is the twenty sixth century,"

A reporter rose from the audience and spoke.

"Excuse me, Angela Chen from the Daily Planet, how can we be sure you are telling the truth,"

"We took measures when we were collaborating their story," said J'onn, "they are telling the truth,"

"Very well, what are the differences between your reality and ours?" asked Angela

"For one, the aliens and mutants that you are aware of do not exist, and there are no metahumans. It is the twenty sixth century and humanity is united under one government. When the first slipspace drive was completed, humanity began deep space explorations which lead to the colonisation and control of around eight hundred planets, well use to have eight hundred planets."

A new wave of awe swept over the people who were watching the conference.

"What do you mean by 'use to', what happened?"

"Well, in my reality, modern humans' first encounter with an alien race was in the year 2525, the earliest recorded date of alien encounter. I will play a presentation to bring you up to speed; this video does contain disturbing material."

…

The video started off with the formation of the UEG and UNSC, then a quick preview to the conflicts that occurred during the expansion, and then to Harvest, many made comments about how beautiful the planet looked. The next segment showed the downfall of Harvest, from how the peaceful planet turned into a ball of ash, its surface covered in glass with raging firestorms and nuclear winters.

_The footage came from a Marine in artic gear; he and his partner were running out of a structure, chased by some unknown force, the pair was running towards a parked warthog._

"_Blue six, Blue six we're under attack," cried the Marine_

_He turned to look at his partner, who was also looking back into the entrance. His fellow Marine was then hit in the chest by a plasma round, wisps of blue splashed across the chest plate and he gave a cry. The Marine dared not return to his fallen comrade and sprinted towards the warthog._

_The camera then jerked upwards. _It was obvious to everyone the Marine was hit in the back.

"_WAGHHHH!" screamed the Marine_

_He collapsed onto the snow, and began to crawl, putting one arm over the other. He then rolled onto his back and looked up._

_An Elite deactivated his active camouflage and towered over the wounded Marine. The alien then activated an energy sword and rammed it into the Marine's stomach._

"_AHHHHGAHHHH!" The Marine howled in pain._

_The Marine went slack and the Elite then picked up his body by the throat. The camera showed the Elite's armoured face and mandibles as the alien growled. The Marine was then thrown away as if he was nothing more than a rag doll. That was when more Elites deactivated their active camouflage and marched forward. The Battle for Harvest went into full swing._

"Good god," many murmured

"This was to be the fate of hundreds of planets, and billions of lives." said John

The video then finished off with the final days of the Human-Covenant War and the explanation of the Forerunners and Flood. Through the presentation, most were shocked by what they saw and many gathered that the Spartans inspired hope to regular humans when they appeared on the battlefield.

…

"Good work on the video Ash," complimented Fred through the Spartans' private comlink.

"Aww shucks," said Ash.

"Why do I the feeling that we've told them a bit more than they need to know?" sighed Kelly

"I second that," said Linda

"We tell them about the Flood and all that, it will act as a nice deterrent to whatever wanker who wants to mess with us, and they will probably stay the hell away from our universe," said Ash, "besides it will give those pesky reporters something to chew on for a while,"

"I like the way you think lil'bro," said Linda.

"Hey lets have some professionalism here," said Fred

"Knock it off Fred," said Linda, "aside from John and the Commander, no one knows we're having this conversation,"

"That's quite a mouth full," said Angela referring to the video, "I have another question, why do you call yourselves Spartans?"

"We are part of the Spartan Programs which are aimed to produce super soldiers," replied John, "I cannot reveal anymore as it would breach protocols."

Angela finished off and Earls came back for another question.

"Are you going to share any of the technologies with us?" asked the General

"Only certain medical technologies," said John, "that is all,"

**XXxxXX**

Back at the farm…

"Man the brass were pissed," chuckled Kelly

"They were practically drooling over the tech we have," laughed Linda, "and then John said 'NO! HAHAHA! Classic,"

"You two are letting loose," commented Fred

"The Commander told us to,"

**XXxxXX**

**A/N: Holy begeebus, this chapter took forever to write. I had to keep it modest and not give too much info. Keep most things short.**

**References: **

**Halo Legend Origins I**

**Halo Legend Origins II**

**Halo Evolution**

**Halo Trilogy**

**You know I am a big fan of Gravemind, I wish I could speak in iambic rhythm like he or it does.**

**Please Review**


	6. Rewrite and Dark Heart, all parts

**A/N: Rewrite of part 1&2 with the new addition of part 3.**

**Halo 4 is coming out in 2012… if you guys think the world ends in 2012, let's hope it ends AFTER the release of Halo 4.**

**And did you guys know that John-117's current rank is actually Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy… but he was posthumously promoted to this rank.**

**XXxxXX**

**Dark Hearts, all parts. **

In the secure domains of NORAD Headquarters, an operator sat at his desk, downing another cup of coffee. Apparently his colleague was sick, and so the operator also had to fill in for the ill man. _This is going to be a long day_, sighed the operator.

His eyes scrolled across the screen, when an alarm alerted to him that a satellite had detected something in the Nevada desert, nearby Nellis Air Force Base.

"Sir, we have something on our hands," said the operator, "putting it on screen,"

All the staffs' attention was now focused on the main screen.

"Oh my god," some whispered, as they saw a misshapen object perched at the top of a mesa in Nevada USA.

**XXxxXX**

The office was of a typical layout for any high ranking military personnel, a selected theme of oak wood and white walls. A bookshelf on at one wall and a cabinet on another filled with medals and pictures. At the far end of the room, was an oak wood desk, in front of it stood two arm chairs, behind the desk were three bullet proof windows decorated with curtains, and beside the desks stood two flags.

"Nellis Air Force Base, this is NORAD, we have signs of an extra-terrestrial landing some kilometres south-south-east of your position,"

General Wade Eiling, was sitting at his desk, when the call came in from NORAD.

"Copy that NORAD, we'll deal with it,"

Eiling switched of the channel and then tuned to his Commander, get the men ready and move out.

"Yes sir,"

**XXxxXX**

Across the night sky, USAF Helicopters thundered through, whipping up sand in their way as they flew low along the ground.

"Gamma and Bravo Company, secure the perimeter, remaning 5th Battalion elements remain in support for continainment. 6th Battalion, remain on standby. The rest of you, evacuate those towns, I'll be in Goldhanger, out." Said Eiling through the radio.

The units then moved out to complete their objectives.

**XXxxXX**

5th Battalion had moved in and secured the area, until they were counter-attacked by the robotic creatures. Quickly, the unit was steam rolled over by spider like robots and robots that mimicked wolves.

"Fall back! Fall back!" yelled a Lieutenant.

"Someone bring up that fifty!"

"BROKEN ARROW! BROKEN ARROW! We're taking heavy casualties, we need to withdraw!"

The alien threat poured out more combatants that just swept aside the Army; some of them bypassed the soldiers and jumped on the landed helicopters to gnaw the crafts to pieces.

The Army's radio chatter were hectic, all of them screaming the same thing.

"This is Captain Vance of Gamma Company, we're taking heavy casualties, I've just lost third company and most of second company, we can't hold out much longer!"

"This is Captain Han of Bravo Company, we're being over runned, HOLY SHI…" the radio broadcast was cut short by static.

"Containment has failed, and we are taking heavy losses," said the Commander into the radio as he fired his pistol, "we're requesting emergency support, I repeat we cannot contain them."

The Commander and his remaining men doubled back to the still operation helicopters and retreated from the immediate area.

"All Fifth Battalion and Sixth Battalion elements are to fall back," ordered the Commander.

**XXxxXX**

"Sounds like the Commander could use a little reassurance," said Superman as he soared through the sky with many other leaguers who could fly under their own power.

"Let's hope we can give it to him," Batman said coolly in the seat of his Batplane.

"Well give it to him alright, and then some," said Diana who was piloting the Javelin, "strength and numbers and all that."

Bruce piloted the Batplane and flew over the mysterious object that sat atop a mesa, while Diana circled ahead in a Javelin. From the sky, it looked like some kind of grey-metalic-organic half melted object; its current shape was that of a tumour with irregular points jutting out.

"It's growing bigger," said Batman with a small hint of concern, "it's somehow devouring everything around it and converting it into mass."

"And those spider like things?" asked the Amazon.

"The same," replied The Caped Crusader, "and once they're done with the debris from the Army's attempt to beat them back, they're going to spread out to those three towns,"

J'onn then contacted Diana via the Justice League Comm network. "Diana, I have the communication's feed from the General on the ground, patching you through,"

Diana the selected the communications channel with the General on the line.

"This is Wonder Woman, go ahead General," said Diana.

"This is General Eiling USAF," Eiling's voice sounded over the Javelin's speakers, "we're in the process of evacuating the three towns in the immediate vicinity. We need those things locked down."

"Then the first task is containment," said Diana in agreement.

"Any word from the Spartans?" Eiling asked.

"None, they may come later though,"

Outside, the Batplane overtook the Javelin.

"I've got something on board that may buy us more time,"

The Dark Knight's fingers danced along the panel and the plane released a bomb. A mist engulfed the large tumour like object and froze it, which left a shiny tint on its hull. The things that weren't frozen expanded from ground zero.

"Batman, what was that?" asked Diana over the comlink

"Thermionic gas cools to within a few degrees of absolute zero," replied the Dark Knight.

"Why would you have something like that on board?"

"I needed to freeze the Gotham River once, long story."

"Move in!" gestured Superman, the Kyrptonian lead the charge into the fray, with the other Leaguers following closely behind him.

The Man of Steel and Supergirl swooped in close to the drop off, where the parasitic things were crawling down the mesa, the two punched and smashed the robots into smithereens. Shinning Knight on his noble steed flew in and slashed at the robots with his blade while Booster Gold and Green Lantern blasted the spider like creatures with pure energy and Red Tornado churned up the enemy ranks with his abilities.

On the ground were Diana had just landed, more Leaguers poured out of the Javelin.

"Good job everyone," compliemented Diana, "surround them and close in,"

"Hold on a sec," said Clark as he tapped into his X-ray vision ability. He stared deep into the mesa and saw the spider-like things burrow deep into the rocky structure, he then shifted his gaze to the sand beneath them to see more of the spiders underground.

"They're right under us!" he cried.

In an instance the creatures jumped out of the ground and took the Leaguers by surprise. Tens of the things latched onto the landed Javelin, and tore away at the craft's hull. Vixen caught one in mid-air and ripped it apart with her bare hands. Superman blasted a few with his heat vision while Diana stomped on one and punched another.

Diana smashed a few more of the things as she pulled back when Eiling called her.

"Wonder Woman, I'm in Goldhanger, about two klicks from you and we won't be able to get everyone out in time,"

J'onn then interrupted on the communications channel. "You won't have to; the Watchtower is now in stationary orbit over the site. Clearing binary fusion generator for firing,"

"The what?" Eiling said sternly.

"It converts our Space stations' entire energy output into a single shot," explained J'onn, "it's a gun with a punch of a small nuclear weapon, General,"

"You're not serious?" said EIling with a hint of shock.

"We're very serious," J'onn said in his emotionless tone, "now pull you're men back, we can't hit the aliens directly because it could scatter them for miles, so we're going to be burning a trench around them."

Eiling complied and pulled back his men.

**XXxxXX**

In the Watchtower…

J'onn's finger danced across the keyboard as he typed in the firing sequence. The alarms blared across the Watchtower as the canon was almost done with its firing sequence.

"Capacitors have reached maximum, Canon now fully deployed," said a technician, "you're cleared for firing,"

J'onn entered in a few more keys and pulled down on the lever which released the energy stored in the Capcitors.

A ball of yellow-white energy formed at the tip of the Watchtower, and then streaked towards the Earth's surface.

**XXxxXX**

Below the Army and the Justice League had retreated to minimal safe distance. Everyone could hear a sound emanate from the sky, the sound was like the beginning of an artillery barrage, that split second of a screaming sound before the first shell landed and exploded.

A yellow-white beam burned into the ground, carving a trench in its wake. Everyone shielded their eyes from the intense light, everyone but Superman.

Once the smoke had cleared, everyone saw a deep trench carved around the site, by now, the robotic creatures had consumed the most, if not, the entire mesa they were on and now touched down at the bottom and expanded to the next mesa.

**XXxxXX**

In the Watchtower it was dark, only the faintest of lights were on; J'onn stood at the console and looked at the screen. 59 minutes and until power would be fully restored in the Watchtower.

**XXxxXX**

"An hour till we find out if it worked," the Martian said, with a hint of concern for his friends. He then looked out at the view port and stared at the Earth.

Back on the ground, Superman looked intently at the aliens.

"That should buy the Army more time to get the towns people out, now I wanna learn about these things."

Superman then stared at the spider-like things with his X-ray and microscopic vision.

"I think the main spacecraft is replicating. There's some kind of molecular machine in every one of them, a sort of Dark Heart building around itself,"

Overhead Batman flew in his Batplane, surveying the area.

"We need Ray Palmer in Boston," said Bruce into his comlink, "Superman, you'll get there faster than any of us,"

"Agreed," said Clark, "I'll be right back,"

The Man of Steel then shot up into the sky.

"Hold the line,"

**XXxxXX**

_Majestic_ had just picked up the Spartans and now was in orbit, vectoring for an American desert.

John's eyes scrolled across his HUD as Cortana fed tactical information through the Spartans' armour. Out in the desert, there was an extra-terrestrial object discovered and currently under quarantine by the US Army, well, was under quarantined until robotic creatures started to pour out of the object and attack the contingency force.

Then the Justice League arrived on scene to help out and was having some trouble holding their own against the unknown force.

Currently the Spartans were en-route to help out with the containment.

John's eyes scrolled across his armour's HUD, the Leaguers had just fired their orbital weapon, and by the looks of things, the Watchtower was out of action from the power output. The trenched carved out by the Watchtower had slowed the aliens down for a while.

"Flood much?" said Kelly lightly

"Only this time they don't turn you into a half-naked, pale, killing machine," added John, "Commander, how long until we are above the subject?"

"Fifteen minutes Chief, want me to drop you guys in early and then have Johnson bring in the cavalry later?"

"Sure,"

"So how are we going to go in, sir?" asked Tom

"Feet First," John smiled.

Feet First into hell…

"Good luck guys, out," said Miranda over the comlink.

The Spartans entered the drop pods, punched in the codes and streaked towards the Earth's surface. John felt his stomach lurched as he entered the free-fall; entering the atmosphere, the bottom of the pod glowed a vibrant red.

The screeching sound of air rushing past the pod climbed into a great crescendo as it shook violently.

Soon the drop pods reached a suitable altitude to deploy air brakes. The Spartans entered the code onto the panel and the pods' descent quickly decreased as the chute was activated.

"Engage reverse thrusters on my mark," said John.

Green acknowledgement lights winked on.

"Three… Two… One… Mark!" John barked.

The eight pods' descent to the earth's surface decreased even further as the reverse thrusters were engaged.

**XXxxXX**

Diana looked up and saw grey plumes of smoke following the wakes of the glowing red pods streaming towards the earth's surface.

The Amazon Princess instantly knew it was the Spartans, the pods came in with a loud screech and thudded into the sand, kicking up some of the soil. The hatches of the pods opened and out rushed the Spartans, weapons high.

**XXxxXX**

John felt the landing rattle him, his motion sensors showed a swarm of red dots at the upper section of the gadget, the Spartan gripped his FAR, and opened the hatch. The alarms sounded and the pod hatch hissed and popped open, revealing a ravaged Nevada desert to the Chief. The Spartans rushed out of their pods, weapons high and live.

Fred wielded a Heavy machine gun, blanketing the enemy formations with automatic gun fire. The Spider things reeled back and shattered from the horde of bullets.

Linda and Mark flanked John's left, and held their signature sniper rifle. The artisan marksmen picked off the mechanical attack tigers that were showering the Spartans' position with laser fire.

Kelly and Olivia shouldered Spartan Lasers and denied the alien attackers their recently gained ground. The two Spartans crouched as they fired their weapons into the enemy horde. The angry scarlet tendrils slashed across the aliens, those caught in ground zero of the blasts were melted, and those further out were blasted to bits, sending shrapnel in all directions. The discharge of the Spartan lasers left a line of angry ash and glass scares across the desert plains.

Lucy, Tom, Ash and John decided to use assault rifles as their primary weapons, so that they could effectively fight the variety of combat units fielded by the aliens.

"Fan out guys, Linda and Mark, hang back and provide support,"

Green acknowledgement lights winked on, on the Master Chief's HUD.

"Chief," it was Cortana, over the com channel.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have the EMP grenades, Doctor Halsey gave you?"

"Yes,"

"Now would be a good idea to use them,"

"Got it,"

John reached for a soft drink can size device, he held it in the palms of his hands, primed it and hurled it into the enemy horde. The grenade went off, but to his disappointment, no avail.

"No effect, I repeat, no effect,"

"Say that again John," spoke Doctor Halsey.

"The EMP grenades are ineffective against the hostiles," said John as he spoke into the comlink.

"Interesting, these subjects are EMP resistant and can convert mater," pondered Halsey, "we'll send you more support, looks like you Spartans have to do this the hard way,"

"When haven't we done it the hard way?" Kelly sighed as she joined in on the conversation.

The spiders were easy to deal with, they were very similar to the Infectious Flood Forms and were easy to eliminate, but they were so many. The attack tigers on the other hand proved to be troublesome, they big, tough and fired lasers out of their mouths, which would force the Spartans back. A Spartan would fall back when their shields were drained; the gap they left in the formation would be filled up by the rest of the Spartans who would tighten the formation, this obviously forced the Spartans into a fighting retreat.

This entire experience reminded John too much of the Flood, memories of the Flood rushed back to the Spartan, the smell of rotting flesh being burned, the horrific gurgle and cries, the sound of screaming men as they were mutated, and the experience when the Chief nearly became one with the Flood.

John forced himself to snap out of the quick half-second flashback and stuffed the memories in the back of his head and continued on fighting.

Angry ash scars riddled the land, the sound weapons discharge filled the air and columns of thick black smoke clouded the starry night sky. The battle dragged on, but the Spartans managed to hold.

Kelly slung her FAR and shouldered her shotgun, and shot a cluster of spiders. The mechanical things were torn to shreds by the 12-gauge ammunition.

John fired a quick burst into a huge scarab like robot, the blue beams burned through the robot's legs, but it was not yet eliminate. It then launched itself at John, in hopes of crushing the Spartan. John ducked and extended his right arm, and activated his energy wrist blades. As the scarab soared past the Spartan, the energy blade burned through its armoured layers and destroyed it.

John then crouched and shifted left, he fired a quick burst into a cluster of spiders, which instantly blew up into shrapnel.

The counter on John's FAR read zero, he ejected the depleted battery cell, and slapped in a new one, rewarding the Spartan with a satisfy whir. He then fired a long burst into an attack tiger, the alien toppled over with smoke curling up from the holes that were burned through its body.

Ash ducked as a scarabs chrome coloured arm swept across his head. The young Spartan-III jumped on to the mechanical scarab's bulbous body and pulled the trigger, releasing a torrent of blue beams into the alien's body. He then activated his left energy wrist blade and rammed it deep into the Scarabs head, crushing and burning it simultaneously. The scarab's legs buckled and the thing crumbled into a heap. But Ash's balance remained unaltered; he crouched on top of the bulbous body, and aimed his FAR at an attack tiger that was charging straight at him. Ash held his ground and fired a long burst into the attack tiger's head as it jumped. Its head burst into a fireball as the beams tore through its mouth. The momentum of the tiger's jump still propelled it forward, which in turn, prompted the Spartan to roll off the Scarab.

The husk of the tiger sailed over the bulbous body of the scarab and scrapped the top, before the tiger landed into the sand, carving away the sand in its wake.

"Nice, lil 'bro," complimented Linda over the Spartan's private comlink channel.

"I second that," added Kelly, "that was awesome,"

"Awwwwww thanks," said Ash bashfully.

The battle continued as the Leaguers, US Army, and the Spartans fought to contain the aliens.

"Commander, can you deploy some sentinels?" asked John, the Spartan fired a burst from his FAR, the blue beams shredded a mechanical attack tiger's head off.

"Cortana's sending them in Chief," she replied over the comlink.

Ten minutes later, a squadron of Albatross Dropships which carried Rhino tanks, and two Albatross carried the Juggernauts, and two vultures. and hundreds of Sentinels poured onto the battlefield.

The Sentinels deployed in this battle were the Onyx Sentinels.

Johnson, wearing his Forerunner Combat skin/ODST BDU; stepped off the lead dropship with an MA5C ICWS cradled in his arms, and a lit Sweet William Cigar in his mouth. He took one long drag from the cigar and threw the butt on the ground, and then pulled on his BDU helmet.

"Let's finish this,"

His helmet's visor polarised into a silver colour.

John smiled under his faceplate and nodded.

The Onyx Sentinels kept their distances from the hostiles, and blasted away at the aliens with their golden beam weapons. The beams slashed through the air and burned through the enemy ranks. Deep within the memory cores of each Onyx Sentinel was information on how to combat certain foes; these robotic aliens that were attacking Earth were not much different from the Flood, which meant that the Onyx Sentinels were having a devastating effect on the alien formations.

The Rhino tanks, which are piloted by simple AIs created by Cortana, parked at the outskirts of Goldhanger and provided fire support. Explosions caused by the plasma bombardment ripped through the aliens, and brought the evacuating civilians more time.

The Vultures on the other hand, orbited the zone and pummelled the earth beneath.

"Tom and Ash, it's your turn to drive the Juggernauts,"

"Tut sweet, sir," said Tom.

The Spartan-III mounted into the Juggernauts and opened fire, unleashing a vast array of firepower at the aliens.

**XXxxXX**

The Leaguers took a quick breather and watched the Onyx Sentinels with great fascination. These chrome with gold trimmed coloured Sentinels hovered three metres above the ground; they hard a remarkably similar appearance to a Monitor and were about three metres in size, and around their main body are three metre long cylindrical spars or "booms".

From what Diana could tell, these Sentinels were adapting to their new foe, they manoeuvre and kept their distances from the aliens, all the while, methodically burning every square inch of soil claimed by the invaders.

**XXxxXX**

General Wade Eiling watched the Spartans with great amazement and awe. The technology they possessed was, as some would call it, treasure. It also made the Wade shudder, the Spartans could easily take over the Earth if they wanted to, the Leaguers had a super weapon in orbit and the Spartans had vast military technology.

Even though the Sentinels were extremely effective on their immediate foe, the alien mother ship produced offspring at an incredible rate which prompted Commander Miranda Keyes to take more action.

"This is UNSC _Majestic_, we're in bound for a glassing run," said Miranda

The Dreadnought descended from the Earth's atmosphere fast and began to hover over the alien threat.

All at the site saw the massive matte grey trigonometric shaped warship hover above the aliens. The hull of the warship was covered in black streaks, caused by weapons fire from the Gordanians

"Beam weapons at the ready, Commander," said Cortana

"Commence bombardment,"

"Aye, aye. Burning those bastards."

The bombardment began as _Majestic's_ beam turrets opened fired, illuminating the night sky. The weapons methodically burned into the ground, the blue beams slashed at the sand until nothing remained on the surface but glowing red glass.

Wade stood in shock from what he just saw. A huge warship had just descended from space and bombarded the zone of incident with beam weapons, until the whole ground was turned to glass.

But the machines were not yet defeated. They crawled out of the sands by the thousands.

"Ah shit!" cursed Miranda

Everyone could see that the alien mother ship's hull was melted into a smooth surface. Now the thing just looked like an expanding and beating, smooth, white hot, silver dome.

**XXxxXX**

Bruce circled around the target zone; he sat in awe of what had transpired. _Majestic_ held a stable position of a few hundred metres above the area. The ground below was blasted to ash and glass.

Seeing glassing on a monitor was one thing, but seeing it in action was a totally different thing.

**XXxxXX**

Superman quickly returned with Atom, or Ray Palmer.

"Amazing," said Ray as he took in the entire dawn landscape before him. The mesa and the mothership that was perched upon it was turned to glass, millions of parasitic robots oozing out of the craft, and Spartan, US Army, Leaguers and Sentinels fighting alongside each other, attempting to contain the situation.

"I take it that's the Spartans' ship," said Atom as he pointed at the lumbering Dreadnought. Superman nodded.

"We need your help with these things,"

Superman than glided down and landed next to Diana, Atom then jumped out of the Man of Steel's ear and morphed himself back to his normal human size.

"Atom, what are these things?" asked the Amazon Princess.

"The subjects appear to be parasitic robots, you either have to shut down its heart and mind or wipe it out totally, leave a shred of these things and it will rebuild itself and the nightmare will repeat itself."

"Any ideas then?"

"We'll have to make our way to the mothership, where I can enter it and destroy the central processing unit,"

"Then it is decided, the Spartans will punch a way through to the mothership, Diana, you transport Atom to the mothership and stay close to the Spartans. The League and I will provide cover for you." Said Batman.

**XXxxXX**

John had just received word from Batman about the counter attack. The Spartan keyed his mike.

"Alright, everyone listen up. I want all foot mobiles to form a defensive perimeter around the vehicles, we're going to burn our way to the mothership so that the Leaguers can drop of an HVI who can disable the aliens."

Green acknowledgement lights winked on.

The tanks began to rumble and roll forward, while the Spartans jogged besides the tanks to provide cover. Cortana on the other hand, was coordinating cast missions and fire support to thin out the enemy ranks.

Wonder Woman was staying close behind the Spartans; it was obvious to John that she was carrying the HVI.

A good half hour of fighting and the Spartans had burned through the enemy ranks, all the way back to ground zero.

"This is as far we can take you," John said to Diana, "good luck,"

The Amazon nodded, and placed the shrunken Atom in her ear, then flew off.

"Spartans, defensive wedge formation," barked John, "move it,"

The Spartans complied, the tanks moved to the vertex of the formation while the Spartans formed the sides. They then directed their fire into the sea of invaders. Tank rounds sailed into the enemy ranks, hand held weapons churned up enemy units and plasma grenades incinerated them.

"This is Wonder Woman," that Amazon's voice crackled across the public channels, "I have dropped off Atom, it's all up to him now,"

Once again, it was another long and excruciating wait for everyone who was fighting. John had lost count of the numbers of aliens he had destroyed, and now he was down to his second last clip.

Atom's voice then sounded across the com channels, "Everyone, you cannot believe the amount of knowledge here in this ship. Apparently there were two factions at war thousands of years ago, a war that reached across the entire galaxy. Both sides built self-replicating war machines to fight each other. These things consumed entire planets, this one in particular followed its programming, go to conquer and expand. But the war must be over by now, and this hasn't been deactivated."

"Can you deactivate the mothership?" asked Miranda, "if you can't, we may need to call in a hammerdown."

"Hold on, I think I've found the heart,"

Another long wait began to set in, a couple of lances of Onyx Sentinels had broken through the alien's ranks and had now linked up with the Spartans. Cortana's bombardments and air casts began to intensify as more robots began to pop up.

"I need a mag, I'm outta ammo," yelled Ash.

John grabbed a FAR mag from one of his pouches and threw it to Ash. Who caught it and slapped it into his weapon.

"Ash, that's my last one,"

"Thanks sir,"

"John I'm down to my last mag," said Kelly.

"I'm out," said Fred as he placed his heavy machine gun onto the tank, "switching to melee."

Fred then activated his energy wrist blades and slashed at any mechanical foe that came his way. One attack tiger lunged at him, Fred sidestepped to doge the attack, and then slashed his blades at the tiger's throat. Electric sparks hissed out of the "wound" and the robot collapsed at the Spartan's feet.

John then activated his comlink, "Cortana, we're running low on ammo, can you drop off some supplies."

"Copy that Chief, I'll try and see what I can do, number of enemy air units have increased,"

The Spartans looked overhead and saw a few Hornets escorted by five Onyx sentinels fly over. The Hornets then dropped off the much needed ammunitions and took off.

One by one, the Spartans fell back to the supply crates to resupply then retake their position so another Spartan can go and re-arm. Fred had deactivated his energy wrist blades and was now blanketing the enemy formations with heavy machine gun fire.

Then all of a sudden, the machines just stopped. They froze and dropped to the ground.

"YES! YESYESYES!" Yelled Atom over the com, "I've just gave it a heart attack… aww this is going to get messy,"

Right at that moment, the mothership exploded, but not a violent explosion, more like a bursting water balloon, sending purple sludge everywhere.

**XXxxXX**

It was dawn now, and the Spartans had made their way onto the mesa where Wonder Woman had dropped off. Next to Fred stood Wonder Woman and Superman, they all scanned the mothership, all in search of Atom.

Then a whinning sound was heard, a small figure began to appear and grew larger by the second. It was Atom, and he was covered in the purple liquid.

"Ohkay, that was disgusting. I'm old now and I shouldn't be doing things like this,"

Superman and Wonder Woman just laughed and helped the scientist up.

John then keyed his mike.

"Commander, I suggest we destroy these aliens,"

"Good idea Chief, Cortana, order the sentinels to burn as much of the wrecks as possible,"

"Copy that."

However it proved to be fruitless as some pieces of the aliens were saved by the US Army.

The Leaguers and the Spartans linked up with General Eiling, who was standing at Ground Zero.

"Do you need some help destroying those things sir?" asked John.

"You wouldn't want that technology falling into the wrong hands," interjected Superman.

"No," replied Wade, "we can learn something from it; after all, it slowed down the Spartans and almost beat the Justice League, after all."

"Why would you need something like that?" asked Diana, with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"Oh I don't know, maybe it's because the Justice League had a secret orbital WMD and the Spartans have an army of drones and a gigantic warship which could turn Earth into molten slag. We'll have to talk about it someday. Ma'am."

Eiling snapped a salute, in which all the Spartans returned. The General then boarded a helicopter and took off.

"Un-believable." Sighed Atom, "Show a man something that destroyed its creators and everything in sight, what's to stop history from repeating itself?"

"We are," said Superman.

**XXxxXX**

**Ah, tis finally done.**

…

**To La Sandman:**

**Thanks for the review, Team Katana is a SPARTAN III team, they're in the book **_**Halo Ghost of Onyx**_**.**

**The reason why I killed those guys off was that they had barely any background, and I don't like to do speculation with "not so developed" characters.**

**With the swear words, I use the "S-word" to convey the gravity of the situation, I don't use the f-word.**

…

**Please review, its common courtesy after all.**


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